Under The Rain
by yanny88
Summary: It's winter in Konoha, and Sakura hates it; she also hates that she's injured and Kakashi has to take care of her. What happens in the confines of Kakashi's home? Read and find out what happens. KakaSaku. Rated M now. Chapter 15 up!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's notes: **Heyo, it's me again; I'm back :D. I'm sticking with the KakaSaku fics because I find them much easier to work with, and because their a cute couple XD. Someone's been asking in the last story I wrote to bring back them chats; if you really want them, then you'll get 'em :P. So yeah, new story up and running, though I'm working on another in the same time, which will slow me down a little, and also, I'm off on my holiday, so I probably won't be able to catch up with whatever goes on on this chapter :S. So here you have it, a new story with a new plot

Kakashi: about time man, I've been waiting for ages

Sakura: yeah yeah, we get it, we've all waited here

Kakashi: but I wanted to get into the next story as soon as I could (pouts)

Sakura: (rolls eyes) well too bad, at least it's here now

Kakashi: true (grins)

* * *

UNDER THE RAIN  
Chapter One

The pink haired Kunoichi sat under the shelter of the hospital, waiting for the rain to calm down. For third time that week, Sakura had forgotten to take her umbrella with her whenever she took off to work everyday. This time however, she had taken a double shift, and by the looks of things, so did the rain.

It wasn't getting any better, and all Sakura wanted to do was get home and crawl under a blanket and sit in front of a heater. Not only was it wet out there, but it was really cold too. Sakura stood there, shivering as she tugged on her long white coat to hide her most exposed areas on her arm and chest.

It was the beginning of winter in Konoha, which also meant, rain, rain and more rain with the side of freezing temperatures to beat. A few weeks would pass soon and it would snow, meaning it would get even worse the way it was already.

The Kunoichi sighed heavily, looking up at the darkly coloured sky as the rain continued to bucket down on the village below, '_why can__'__t this village be renamed to the Hidden Rain in the winter instead?_' she asked herself, flicking a pink lock from her forehead.

The young Jounin had waited long enough outside the hospital. She could go back inside, but she never did like the smell of antiseptics and dried blood. Plus, if she were to walk back inside, someone would throw her something to do such as mend someone's broken arm. Though she didn't mind the work, it's just she had had enough for today and only wanted to go home and sleep; with the exception of food to fill her growling stomach.

"That's it!" she exclaimed under her frustration and walked out under the pouring rain, not giving a damn about her attire and how much she wanted to stay dry.

She dashed across the street, trying not to stop or talk to anyone who could pass her at any given time. She skipped through the puddles, feeling the gush of water splash up her jacket and medic skirt, making her squeal suddenly.

Dashing around the next block, she passed the ramen shop, where she definitely knew Naruto was eating right at this very moment. Ignoring that, Sakura ran like a bat out of hell, trying to wipe the water that drilled into her eyes, blurring her vision. Upon reaching her street where her house was, she tripped on an uneven piece of the pavement, tumbling forward and seeing the ground come closer to her face at every split second. She hit the ground with a loud splash, her face planted right in a mudded puddle, lying motionless for a moment.

'_Ouch!_' she cursed, as she tried getting up, but she couldn't move.

She used what was left of her super human strength and pulled her head out of the muddy puddle, spitting a heap of nasty water from her mouth and feeling the burning sensation in her legs. How the hell could a fall hurt her so bad. Not only that, but she started feeling the cold temperature get to her and was shivering uncontrollably. Struggling hastily to get to a more dryer place, Sakura winced in pain. She decided checking to see what had her feeling like shit and found that when she had fallen, a rod that had been sticking out of the pavement and gone straight through her left leg.

'_Aw crap!_' she cursed again, watching the blood water down by the rain and running down the drain beside her.

She was so cold, Sakura wasn't able to muster the strength to get up, so she was stuck like this until help came. That is, if there was anyone who would be walking out in the rain at this hour.

Unfortunately, Sakura was tired, and hungry, not only that, but most of her chakra was used up in her double shift, and thought that she would most likely be stuck here until the next day. But after fifteen minutes of struggling, she was in luck when a very tall and very wet silver haired Jounin came walking around the corner. She knew this man anywhere, but couldn't put her finger on why he was walking out in the rain, at this hour. She pushed those thoughts aside for now and tried lifted herself up again, but began coughing vigorously from the cold.

The Copy Nin walking closer undoubtedly noticed his former student lying on the hard sidewalk of her street, "Sakura-chan!" he shouted over the heavy downpour of the rain and rushed to the medic at once.

"K-Kakashi-s-sensei," Sakura managed to stutter under the pain and cold.

Kakashi immediately knew she was in deep trouble. He knelt down, checking her current position and said, "how long have you been like this?" he asked hastily as he reached down to touch her injured leg and hissed in sympathy for the pink haired Kunoichi.

Sakura cringed and gasped as she began coughing. She began shivering slightly, "too long," that was all Kakashi needed to hear, and with that, he slowly, yet as swiftly as he could, pulled Sakura's leg from the poll, with the exception of a loud scream. He glanced down at the now very weak medic on the ground, "don't go out on me now Sakura," he demanded, unzipping his vest and putting it over Sakura, after taking her coat off and wrapping it around the medic's injured leg.

He grabbed her as gently as he could without harming her and her leg and ran down the road. Sakura lived down this street, he knew that much, but this street was really long, his house was closer; he was on his way home before finding her like the way she was moments ago, "Sakura, I'm taking you to my house," he said over the sound of the driving rain.

"…" Sakura mumbled something, but she was too weak to make it understandable.

Kakashi inwardly cursed himself, '_I__'__m always late with these things aren__'__t I?_' he mused, running as fast as he could and making a left turn, slipping just a little bit, but remained balanced.

He managed to safely make it to his house and slammed the door shut in seconds, jogging through his house with an almost unconscious Kunoichi in his arms. Blood stained his wooden floor, but he didn't care; he just dashed straight to the other side of the building to his bedroom and gently lay Sakura on his bed.

He had to act quickly; Sakura was pale from the cold and was losing quite a lot of blood. Kakashi opened one of Sakura's eyes to find them dull in colour, noting that she was on the verge of passing out, "don't go out on me yet Sakura-chan," he forced yet again, sprinting off to the bathroom across the hallway and returning with a medical kit he got ages ago.

The Copy Nin also returned with a bowl of warm water and three cloths. He set his supplies down next to him and removed the soaking vest and blooded coat from Sakura, placing a dry towel under her wounded leg, so he could work on it without dirtying his bed sheets.

"How did you do this Sakura," he asked louder than normal, keeping the medic awake for as long as he could.

"…I…-as runn-g…nd I…fell…" she murmured under her weary state, wincing as Kakashi dabbed a wet cloth on her leg.

The rod that stuck up from the ground had gone straight through her left leg, which was a bad thing. Kakashi wasn't gifted with medical jutsu and wasn't able to heal her, but the least he could do was put his first aid skills to good use.

After a long hour of work, Kakashi was finally done; having fixed Sakura's leg to the best of his ability. He sighed in sympathy at his former student, wiping his blooded hands on a rag and stood up, staring at the medic a moment more and glanced at the bandages around her leg, '_all I could do for now_,' he said inwardly, rubbing his Sharingan eye tiredly.

He gently pulled the blanket over Sakura to let her sleep and left the room with all the medical gear he used to clean up.

Taking a shower, Kakashi pondered over what the hell had just happened and what he just went through. With a deep sigh, he washed the dried blood from his arms, scrubbing the stains off his skin, and deeply thinking over how Sakura could've injured herself just by falling over. She should've been able to avoid such an injury if she had just looked where she was going, but then again, it was raining, and when he was walking, he had a hard time seeing where he was going and almost tripping over himself. But he only had one eye to use at the time so that didn't count.

Kakashi quickly finished up and got dressed into some dry clothes and set some of his old clothes by his bed so Sakura had something dry to wear for a while. He was tired, and figured a rest was in order so he crashed on his couch in the living room, and was out like a light in seconds.

* * *

A groan escaped her lips, feeling tired and very weak at that. Her vision was blurry but she could make out most of her surroundings, '_where the heck am I?_' she asked herself, a little dazed from what had happened.

She had also realised that she wasn't in her own home. There was a familiar scent in the air, as well as the blankets she was nicely tucked under. It seemed to warm her up a little, but she was still very cold. She moved, but her muscles ached and so did her leg, but not as much as it had started when she first felt it.

Slowly but surely, Sakura sat up, rubbing her eyes tiredly and looked around the room. Why was it so quiet? Sakura looked to her very right and found a set of clothes set for her on the chair next to her. She had a pounding headache but felt that ridding herself of her still damp clothes would be a good idea, as well as a healthy one. She quickly stripped herself of her clothes and tossed on the really baggy black shirt and pants.

The medic found a belt next to the pants and quickly put that on, warming herself up as quickly as possible. Sakura had managed to regain some chakra and healed some of the wound on her leg, but it wasn't enough for her to put full weight on it just yet. All she needed was more rest and plenty of patience.

Sakura slid off the bed, and limped her way out of the bedroom and noticed the mess she had trailed when she was most likely brought in. There was blood trailing to the bed from all the way to the front door, she had guessed.

The pink haired Kunoichi painfully struggled and limped out the door and down the hallway until she reached the living room, which was unusually quiet. She checked her surroundings until her eyes were set on the silver haired Jounin, who was cosily snug on his couch, sleeping away. She smiled softly, but there were bigger things on her mind. She hopped along and crouched beside her former sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei…" she whispered, nudging the Copy Nin gently.

There was a moan from the man before her, but he opened his eyes nonetheless. His eyes widened the second he realised it was Sakura in front of him, "Sakura-chan! What are you doing up? You should be in bed," he said as he sat up, rubbing his Sharingan eye sleepily.

Sakura stared at him expectantly, "sorry, I just had to know whose house I was in," she gave a tired and ashamed smirk, giggling a little as she gazed at the silver haired Jounin before her.

"Are you feeling alright?" Kakashi asked, pointing a finger down at the medic's leg, where his exceptional bandage work was displayed.

"Better than before," she said almost hesitantly, "but I feel kind of weird at the moment,"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that, "what kind of weird, exactly?" he asked, hoping it wasn't something completely off the plot to him. Sakura almost felt embarrassed to even say something at this point, "well my head feels clouded and my body feels weaker than ever before," she was a medic; she should know about these things.

The Copy Nin frowned, "which is why I said you should still be in bed, resting," he stared at her seriously now, not wanting his former student get sick. Sakura sighed, "I suppose I should've just done what you told me to do from the beginning," she went to get up, but the sudden head-rush forced her off balance and her vision blurred before her.

Her body just gave away on her at this point and she fell forward without warning. She had managed to collapse on her former sensei in the most awkward position yet. Her head was right by the man's crotch with her mouth open, looking like she was heavily drunk.

"Sakura-chan," he quickly grabbed her, standing up while holding her bridal style.

Sakura opened her eyes a crack and smirked sleepily, "I'm sorry sensei, I should've just listened to you in the first place," she muttered under a hissing wince.

Kakashi knew this couldn't be helped; Sakura was stubborn and tried to be strong, yet she didn't have the strength to fight off the pain in her left leg for long. She felt her shiver in his arms, most likely the pain or her weak body reacting to her condition from an hour ago when she was first brought inside.

"Don't worry about it Sakura-chan; you're just lucky you have a sweet sensei like me to help you out when you need it," he grinned beneath his mask and made his way to his room.

Sakura was carried to Kakashi's room, her head spinning and her muscles gone limp on her. Her head bobbed along at each step the man took, and she couldn't do much about it. Sakura forced her head sideways so she was resting against the man's broad shoulder, leaving it there and closing her eyes so she could sleep.

She was awoken briefly when Kakashi had laid her down on his bed and tucking her under the sheets. Sakura sighed softly and allowed sleep to take over once again. Kakashi watched her for a moment and reached a hand to the medic's face to cup her cheek, '_Sakura-chan__…_' he thought sympathetically and got up and left the room.

Later that same night, Kakashi was awoken by something strange stirring up in the air. He knew it wasn't much to brag about, but it certainly threw him off. Kakashi felt and in fact heard that something wasn't right with Sakura, and thinking that checking up on her would be a good idea.

He sprang off the couch and rushed to his bedroom to find Sakura breathing heavily and out of rhythm. He watched beads of sweat build up around the medic's face and instantly knew she was building up a strong fever. The Jounin had to do something, but didn't know what exactly. He ran off to the bathroom and came back with a wet cloth in his hands and rushed to the medic's side.

"Sakura-chan don't worry, I'm here to help you," he tried to reassure the Kunoichi, but she probably couldn't hear him.

He gently placed the wet cloth on her forehead, leaving his hand rested there for a moment. Kakashi checked her pulse; it was very fast. He couldn't do much about that, but all he could do was wait, and keep her temperature at a normal level.

Throughout the whole night, Kakashi was pulled in and out of hit very short sleep to keep Sakura alive and make sure she wasn't cooking up too high. It left him tired; more tired than he already was that day, and more worried than usual of his former pink haired student.

He soon fell asleep beside the bed, against his bedside table, snoozing the final hours of the night before dawn crept over the hills and through his room window, casting its early light into the room.

The Copy Nin was awoken half an hour later to the sound of someone knocking loudly on his door. With a grunt and groggily moan, Kakashi sat up, rubbing his head and standing up, stretching out his long arms as he made his way slowly to his front door.

"Kakashi-sensei!" the knocking on the door got louder, as well as the obnoxious voice on the other side.

Kakashi sighed as he opened the door, "what is it Naruto? It's seven thirty in the morning," he asked, trying to pull of the I-just-woke-up-what-do-you-want act. The young blonde ninja before him gave him an annoyed scowl.

"Sensei, it's eleven fifteen!" he exclaimed, "you were supposed to see Granny-Tsunade three hours ago! She's gonna throw a fit at you now!"

The Copy Nin had to plug a finger into his ear to mute the volume of Naruto's loud voice and took a step back, "okay don't worry, I'll be there in a minute," he reassured, making a shooing motion with his other free hand.

Naruto pouted before coming to realise something, "by the way, have you seen Sakura-chan around lately? I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon," he wondered, placing a finger on his chin thoughtfully.

Kakashi knew that saying Sakura was in his house, sleeping in his bed would set the blonde off on him, and cause a lot of trouble. He scratched the back of his head innocently, "nah, I have no idea where she's been hiding lately; I haven't seen her in a while," this casual answer resulted in a frowning blonde, who soon took off without further say.

With a sigh of relief, Kakashi closed the door after waving at Naruto as he ran down the street and around the corner, '_that was a close call_,' he inwardly said, sighing once more as he strode his way back into his bedroom.

He stared at the medic lying deep asleep on his bed, thinking how he got himself into this in the first place; though he didn't mind the company, he just wasn't really up to taking care of someone who was rather ill. He could send her to the hospital for better treatment, but she didn't always like it there, and neither did he. Plus, he didn't want to show that he was a lousy teacher and didn't take care of his students properly.

Kakashi had no choice; he had to keep Sakura here until she was better. He decided to call for some assistance; he couldn't just leave Sakura alone in his house, what if her fever got worse? What if she had a seizure and died in his own house? He wasn't willing to risk that. So with the swift series of handsigns, Kakashi summoned his trusted companion, Pakkun to help.

"Kakashi-san, what's the problem?" asked the brown pug, sitting on the floor as if he lived there.

Kakashi pointed at the sick medic. Pakkun quirked an eyebrow, "what's wrong with Sakura-chan? Is she sick?" he asked, alert now. Kakashi nodded, "I need you to keep an eye on her while I'm gone; I have to meet up with Tsunade-sama, and I can't just leave her alone," he ordered in favour.

Pakkun nodded his canine head, "not to worry Kakashi-san, I'll keep a close eye on your former student until you return," he replied with a smirk, "is there anything you want me to do for her while you're gone?" he asked.

"Perhaps change the cloth on her forehead every once in a while to keep her fever at a low," he reminded, walking into his bathroom and running a bowl of water and setting it down by his bed so Pakkun wouldn't have to reach for such struggle to change a cloth.

He just remembered another thing, "oh and another thing, if anything happens while I'm gone, let me know immediately," he commanded firmly.

"Roger," Pakkun said without second's hesitation.

"Thanks," Kakashi replied, tossing on his ninja shoes and vest with headband.

He ran out the window, hoping Pakkun could handle her while he was away for the time being. He would have to stop at a shop to buy medicine for Sakura. There was no way Kakashi was going to make a quick stop at the hospital; just no way. The last time he went there for some cough medicine last year, he had medics all over him, wanting to give him other things as recommendations and things alike. He decided to never go there for medicine ever again.

* * *

"You're late again, Hatake!" bellowed the honey eyed Hokage from her desk, swirling a cup of sake in one hand and a pen in the other.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "sorry, I had to help a little girl get her cat out of a tree and-" he was cut off mid-sentenced by Tsunade.

"Enough of your bullshit Kakashi, now lets just cut to the chase," she snapped, angry already at the tall Jounin.

Kakashi winced when the Hokage almost threatened to sock him in the eye from where she was sitting, but refrained from doing so and sighed deeply, "do you have the mission scroll for me, Kakashi?" she asked after sculling back another shot of sake.

The Copy Nin rolled his lone visible eye and tossed her the scroll that was slightly tattered from the ride in his vest through the rain, "yep," he said coolly, placing his weight down on one leg and stuffing his hands into his pockets nonchalantly.

The rest of the meeting went boring as usual, and all Kakashi wanted to do was go home and catch up on some well deserved reading, "another thing," Tsunade interjected as Kakashi was about to leave the room.

"Have you seen Sakura-san this morning? She's not at the hospital and it's unusual for her to be late or absent," she asked, eying him suspiciously as she took another swig of her drink.

Kakashi sighed, '_guess I__'__d better tell her what happened_,' he said inwardly while rubbing the back of his neck expectantly and faced the blonde.

* * *

"I see," Tsunade muttered, having had enough alcohol for the next few days.

"…" Kakashi awaited what the Hokage would force him to do.

The honey eyed blonde gave him a quick glance and said, "have you thought of bringing her to a hospital for better treatment?" Kakashi sighed; this Hokage was so difficult to deal with in these situations.

"Yes, but she's fine how she is at this point," he paused, staring the busty Hokage in the eye, "the only thing I need to look after is the nasty fever she developed yesterday; it happened quickly too,"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, before widening her eyes, "who's with her now?" she demanded an answer. The Copy Nin raised his arms in defence in case Tsunade was tempted to throw a few scrolls at him, or even her bottle of sake if she were that desperate, "don't worry, Pakkun is taking care of her, and if anything happened, he'd tell me," he reassured, also trying to do the same to himself in the process.

Of course Kakashi trusted Pakkun enough to take care of his former student, but then again, something could've gone wrong and his little pug wasn't able to get to him. But he'd know at an instant that his chakra patterns would be slightly distorted if Pakkun got hurt or needed emergency help.

Tsunade's eyes softened a little and she leaned back, "does Naruto know about this?" she mused, furrowing her eyebrows curiously.

The silver haired man shook his head, "no, I figured he didn't have to know, and that he would only get in the way of Sakura-chan's recovery," he said plainly, his hands firmly tucked into his pockets.

"Good," was all Tsunade said in reply and entwined her fingers together in a thoughtful way. She pondered over the next move. What will she do now? She sighed dramatically, and stood up, opening the closet by her desk and pulling out a pair of crutches.

Kakashi's silver brow rose curiously, "take these to Sakura-san in case she decides to start walking; I'll meet up with you and her at your house later today to take a better look at her injury," Tsunade explained cleanly, handing him the props.

"Understood," Kakashi deadpanned, "I'll make sure Naruto doesn't ask what I'm doing with these. But if Naruto finds me carrying crutches around the village and mentions Sakura-chan, what should I say?" he asked.

The honey eyed woman took a breath to think, "if Naruto asks about Sakura-san, just say she's sick and in hospital; be sure to tell him that what she has is highly contagious and no one is allowed to visit her," she grinned.

"And what about the crutches?" asked the Copy Nin, raising the crutches in each hand.

"Just don't let yourself be seen by anyone at this point," she exclaimed, waving a hand dismissively to let the man leave the office.

Kakashi bowed and took off through the door, and headed straight home by rooftop. Leaping as swiftly as he could without slipping over and getting wet so much, Kakashi pondered how Pakkun was holding out with his former student lying as sick as a dog in his house.

* * *

**Author's notes:** Don't hurt me (covers eyes with hands), Sakura had a bit of a nasty fall and hurt her leg (cringes in sympathy). Anyway, next chapter will be up as soon as I can finish it lol, but it will have to waits for a bit. Hope you liked this chapter, as well as a start of a new story at that XD.

Kakashi: all I can say about that chapter is...OUCH!!

Sakura: you took the words right out of my mouth

Kakashi: yeah well, I have been in worse situations though; it wasn't pretty either

Sakura: was that the time when you lost your "precious" Icha Icha books and found out that Naruto had purposely hid them to see what you'd do?

Kakashi: (glares evilly) NO! That wasn't something different.

Sakura: what the hell man, you practically gave him the beating of his life when you caught him

Kakashi: oh well, he needed some exercise (shrugs)

Sakura: (rolls eyes), at least he does more than you (pokes tongue out)

Kakashi: On the contrary Sakura, I work out everyday

Sakura: oh and what's that then? Your finger when you flip a page?

Kakashi: Nooooo...! Anyway, we're holding up the readers' valuable time

Sakura: oh, right, well...hope you enjoyed reading this chapter (smiles and waves)

Kakashi: laters


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's notes:** okay, before you attack me with books, sharp pens and anything else in reach of throwing, sorry for being so late to update. First off, I was on vacation with my family so I wasn't able to do any writing while I was away. Second, it's been pretty busy here, so I wasn't able to work on the chapters when I wanted to, so sorry. Anyway, chapter two of Under The Rain, enjoy D.

* * *

CHAPTER TWO: THE MISSION

The rain bucketed down on the village and all Kakashi could do was sit on the couch, watch some TV and drink a hot mug of coffee. It was all he needed at this point.

He had come home with the crutches in one piece, though quite soaking, and found Pakkun asleep on his bed while Sakura too was sleeping peacefully. Turns out that Sakura was fine the entire time, and the little brown pug only had to change the cloth twice during his absence.

Kakashi sighed for the nth time in that hour. What was there to do? He was no longer a teacher because Team 7 all graduated to Jounin. He had finished all his Icha Icha collection, and no doubt was he ready to reread them quite yet. It was raining and he never really liked to be in his house for so long because there wasn't much else for him to do.

He could cook, but he didn't like cooking all that much anyway, and there wasn't much point. He could check up on Sakura again, but he did that ten minutes ago and it would only be a waste of time and he didn't want to disturb her while she slept.

"Kakashi-sensei," mumbled a groggy voice from afar.

The Copy Nin's ears perked up immediately at the feminine voice and sat up straight, "yeah," he answered, listening for any signs of struggle from the hallway. Fortunately for him, there was no sounds of Sakura struggling or anything alike; all he could hear were the sounds of the crutches tapping on the ground as she limped into the living room.

"How are you feeling?" Kakashi asked casually.

Sakura grunted, "I feel like crap," she huffed as she sat down next to her former sensei, "my leg hurts, my head hurts and I'm starving," she added as an emphasis.

Kakashi rolled his mismatched eyes, "I'll get you something to eat," he suggested as he strode past the pink haired Kunoichi and walked into his kitchen. Two minutes later, Kakashi walked out carrying a plate of cheese toasties and a steaming mug of tea.

"Here you go," Kakashi said sweetly as he placed the medic's food on the coffee table in front of Sakura.

Sakura smiled amiably in return and grabbed a slice of her cheese toasty, "thanks," she mumbled in between her small bites. Kakashi rubbed his neck appreciatively and sat down next to her, absentmindedly watching her eat.

The medic could feel the man's gaze on her, but didn't care at the moment; all she wanted right now was food, "Tsunade-sama will be coming over to check up on you later today," the Copy Nin interrupted calmly, watching Sakura's brief reaction of surprise.

She almost felt hesitant to ask, "does Naruto know about this?" she awaited an answer anxiously from her former sensei. Kakashi shook his head, "no, I decided it was best not to tell," he smiled reassuringly at her.

"Good," the medic sighed in relief, "because Naruto would probably get really worried; not to mention that I'm staying with you in my recovery," her cheeks grew a slight smudge of pink at the thought of Naruto's reaction.

Kakashi merely chuckled before placing his hand on the medic's forehead, feeling how hot her temperature was before even touching her. Sakura just froze for a moment before biting down on her toast, pretending nothing was really going on and took a quick swig of her tea.

"Your burning up a lot Sakura-chan, don't you feel this at all?" asked the silver haired Jounin worriedly.

Sakura shook her head, "nah. In fact, I feel fine," she replied, smiling reassuringly at the man beside her.

Kakashi didn't look at all convinced and kept a straight face, "okay, the only thing that's bothering me at the moment is my leg, but I can't do much about that until my chakra is fully replenished," she added.

Now Kakashi was a little more relieved, though he couldn't help but think that something was about to go really bad, "okay then, I suppose I can trust you with that," he mumbled, getting up to grab Sakura's plate that had been emptied rather quickly.

Sakura decided to stand up too to try and help, but the second she was upright, she felt her head spin wearily and her vision went blurry. The sudden wave of head-rush kicked in and the medic was falling to the floor.

Kakashi saw her out of the corner of his eye and quickly ran to the rescue. To save Sakura from such a fall without her leg throbbing and having her screaming in pain until she passed out, the Copy Nin slid onto his knees until he was practically below Sakura. She safely landed on top of Kakashi; so vulnerable like a kitten in the rain.

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" asked the silver haired Jounin.

"…" the medic mumbled something wearily after, but Kakashi couldn't understand what she said.

The silver haired Shinobi lifted Sakura in his arms and carried her bridal-style to his bedroom, "sorry…" Sakura managed to say as she was gently laid down onto the bed.

"Don't be," was all Kakashi said in return.

Sakura sighed tiredly as Kakashi pulled the sheets over for her. The medic quickly settled under the covers, unnoticeably taking in the scent of her former sensei's bed wear and strangely enough, she felt a little better.

Kakashi was about to leave when Sakura sat up on her elbows, "Kakashi-sensei…" she almost whispered nervously.

The older Jounin stopped and turned around, "yeah?" he rose his eyebrows in questioning and waited for Sakura to say something.

"Does…Tsunade-shisou really want to check up on me?" she sounded hesitant and nervous for some reason.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Kakashi asked as he strode back to his bed where Sakura lay sleepily.

Sakura looked off to the side; not sure of what to say next, "there's nothing wrong with it, it's just I don't want to involve any more people into this," she gestured to her injured leg under the blankets to prove her point.

Kakashi rolled his mismatched eyes and sighed, "but I'm the only one involved at the moment," the medic's face fell to even more of a deeper frown, "but I didn't even want to concern everybody with what's happened to me,"

There she went again; stubborn as usual. Kakashi found this side of his medic student rather difficult and annoying to work with because it took an awful lot of effort to get through to her at this point, "Sakura-chan, if you didn't tell anyone about what happened to you, everyone would be even more worried than if they found out later today or tomorrow," he took a seat next to his bed and sighed.

Sakura's face went blank, until she sighed in defeat, "I suppose you're right; but I want to keep this just between you and Tsunade," she plead, "if Naruto and the others were to find out, I'd be public notice number one," she added as an after statement.

The Copy Nin raised his hand in solemn oath, "don't worry about it; you can just stay here with me until you're fully healed and after that you can walk out of here like nothing ever happened," he smiled reassuringly at the Kunoichi.

Sakura felt a bit better, though she couldn't help but blush at what Kakashi had said and his choice of words. She weakly shrugged it off and sighed longingly, "you'd better get some rest before Tsunade-sama arrives," Kakashi advised thoughtfully and walked out of the room to let Sakura sleep.

* * *

Not an hour or so later, the blonde Hokage was at the front door with a small medical pack around her waist like what Sakura normally travels with in long term missions.

"Come in Tsunade-sama," Kakashi said sweetly, with the added fake smile under his mask.

Tsunade merely rolled her eyes and slipped through the door, quite wet from her travel here. She kicked off her sandals and instantly turned into the boss in the house, "interesting decoration," she mused oddly at the Jounin's house, staring at his living room as though someone urinated all over the place and left it there to stink for a while.

Kakashi ignored the comment and led her to his bedroom where Sakura lay sound asleep, "how long has she been asleep for now?" the honey eyed woman asked as she studied the medic's health from just looking at her.

"About an hour now," the Copy Nin deadpanned plainly.

Tsunade hummed in thought, "I'll try and heal most of the damage in her leg if it is needed," she said to no one in particularly.

Kakashi just shrugged as he sat down at his desk to watch the Hokage work on Sakura like a doctor to a patient. Tsunade removed the covers from Sakura's leg and stared at the bandage, "did you do this?" she asked in a rather disgusted way.

The man felt quite offended but let that one slide, "yeah," he said simply, keeping a straight face and not trying to go off at the Hokage for such small things.

The busty woman hummed again and began removing the bandages and hissed sympathetically at the nasty injury on Sakura's left leg once it was revealed, "ouch," she exclaimed.

Sakura practically had a hole in her left leg from the fall, but a small part of it had already been healed, or so attempted to do, so by Sakura herself, '_not enough chakra I__'__m guessing,_' Tsunade said inwardly and prepared herself for a jutsu.

"I'm going to heal most of it," Tsunade said, as if trying to teach someone in a more practical way.

She didn't need a reply or anything; Tsunade just got straight to work. She focused some of her chakra to her hands and placed them on Sakura's leg. As soon as she came in contact with her apprentice's leg, Sakura jerked in her sleep, moaning a little as well.

Tsunade ignored it and kept going.

Slowly but surely, Sakura's injury was healing by Tsunade's wondrous healing technique. The Hokage found it difficult to find the right spot to heal; there was so much damage done just from that one fall. The bone had been grazed, nerves were shot and she had lost a lot of blood after that. Also, Tsunade had to force the muscles to come together, but it would take her even longer; not to mention the amount of chakra needed to do so.

Kakashi had sat in the living room the whole time, and after about an hour and a half, Tsunade emerged from the man's room, exhausted and by the looks of it, and finished. The Copy Nin stood up at an instant, "well?" he wondered.

Tsunade rubbed her nose with her wrist and said, "I did the most I could do with all the chakra I had," she paused and took a breath or two, "the only thing there is left to do is let Sakura rest for as long as she needs to until her leg is healed,"

Kakashi nodded, "so how is she now?" he asked while he walked with the Hokage into the room where Sakura slept.

"We'll just have to find out when she wakes up, but I can't mend the bone to full health because half her nerves were struck by the rod you told me about, and most of the muscles there are damaged. Also, Sakura has lost some of the chakra signals in her leg, which is why she can't heal her injuries just yet,"

'_Why does it always sound so bad?_' he mentally asked himself as he sighed deeply, a little worried that Sakura can't heal herself because of her leg.

There was a moment of silence as the two Shinobi watched Sakura for a moment, "but, I have a mission for you, Kakashi," she began; her Hokage tone back in action.

'_What? I__'__m already taking care of Sakura-chan here_,' Kakashi inwardly moaned.

Tsunade grinned, "your mission is to take care of Sakura-san until she is fully capable to take care of herself again," she paused, watching the Copy Nin's masked face turn hopeful again.

"It should take about two weeks, if not a little more, for Sakura-san's leg to heal, and her fever and cold to disappear. Until then, she is under your care," she made it sound as though someone's life was in danger, which in this case it kind of was.

Kakashi sighed, "understood," he answered, his serious mission face firm.

The honey eyed woman nodded, "good, now I will be expecting a report after Sakura-san's recovery, so don't think this is just a vacation for you," she warned decisively as she exited the man's bedroom and towards the door.

"Don't worry Tsunade-sama, I never treat these things as a holiday," Kakashi's eye crinkled in a hidden smile as he opened the front door for the Hokage.

Tsunade gave the man a quick glance of warning and left without a word. As soon as she was out in the rain, Kakashi shut the door and sighed deeply, '_two weeks taking care of Sakura-chan__…__aww man, it__'__s gonna be tough, but a mission__'__s a mission_,' he said inwardly as he waded into his kitchen and poured himself a hot mug of tea.

* * *

Winter in Konoha, and the rain continued to beat down on the village. No one was outside for obvious reasons, no training missions were given out due to flooding in the training grounds, and missions were cut to a minimum because of colds and other illnesses.

Kakashi sat on the couch of his living room, staring at a blank TV screen while swirling his cup of now cold tea in his hand.

Right now he just wanted to do something. Perhaps going out to the bar would be nice, or a long mission away from the village, but he had a mission of his own already. He had to take care of his sick former student, who carelessly injured herself while running home in the rain.

Another sigh, Kakashi looked out the window; it was getting darker, and with nothing to do anymore, the Copy Nin thought he would die of boredom. He couldn't read Icha Icha because there wasn't enough light in his house anymore. He was watching TV half an hour ago when the power cut off, so he was stuck staring at a blank screen until now. Plus, Kakashi was too lazy to get up and complain, or light a candle; he just sat there and sighed as soon as his TV shut off.

'_I__'__d better light a few candles in before Sakura-chan wakes up_,' Kakashi said to himself as he listened to the heavy sound of the rain as it beat onto the roof of his home.

There was a sudden bonk from behind him and Kakashi immediately guessed it was Sakura, '_too late_,' he thought, not bothering to get up at all anymore.

The sound of the crutches was imminent and before Kakashi knew it, Sakura had managed to find her way through the darkness of the house and was looking both tired an a little irritated.

"Sensei, why are there no lights on in the house," she asked quite annoyed at the Copy Nin for not helping her as well.

Kakashi sighed yet again, "the power's out; there's not much else I can do," he answered lamely. Sakura was really fuming now, "well at least you could light some candles or something," she exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips while still keeping her balance on her right leg.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "okay fine, sorry," he huffed as he got to his feet.

Sakura hopped along with her crutches into the kitchen and said, "where do you keep your candles and matches?" she opened a cupboard with her free hand and struck her luck.

The silver haired Jounin had gotten up to show here where he hid them but Sakura had already found them, "where shall I put them?" she asked sweetly, a tired smile on her pale face.

"Here," Kakashi insisted on taking the candles from her, but the medic was being stubborn again.

"No, no, I'll do it; just because I'm crippled doesn't mean I can't do anything," she spat back, poking her tongue out at the tall Jounin before her.

Kakashi merely rose a silver brow and sighed, "okay," he shrugged as he led Sakura to the places to light some candles and lighten the room a little. Kakashi managed to pry some candles off the Kunoichi so he could do some of the work too and walked off to the other end of the living room.

Sakura was using one crutch now, thinking that it would be so much easier than using two. She still felt a little dizzy and her cold had only gotten worse as she slept less and less every time.

She paused for only a moment when she felt Kakashi's gaze on her from behind and pondered what he was up to, "what's up?" she wondered, turning to face him.

"Nothing," the Copy Nin uttered as he shook his head.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and resumed the task at hand. Even though she had been told nothing was going on, she still felt Kakashi was deep in thought about something, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"You feeling any better?" Kakashi asked.

The medic stopped and looked off to the side, frowning a little, "not really," she muttered, "my head is still spinning, and my leg still hurts," Kakashi's face fell and sighed as he lit the last candle.

He sat down on the couch and waited for Sakura to join him, "Tsunade-sama came a while ago," he started right after the medic took a seat next to him.

"What did she say?" sakura asked.

"She healed most of your leg, but the rest your body has to do on its own," he paused to sigh once more, "but there is also another thing,"

"What is it?" Sakura pressed on, looking a little more eager than before.

Kakashi took a moment to gather his thoughts, "I have been assigned on a new mission," he said, looking rather pleased with himself. Sakura's ears perked up and rose an eyebrow at her former sensei.

"Does that mean I have to leave your house?" she mused, a small part of her hoping she would be wrong.

Kakashi chuckled lightly, "on the contrary, it means you have to stay here," he grinned at Sakura's now surprised expression, "my mission is to take care of you until you get better," he stated plainly, watching the medic's features change at every word he said.

"Are you serious?" Sakura asked incredulously, mouth agape and a little baffled by what her ears had just received.

Kakashi's grin only widened, "why wouldn't I be?" he didn't expect an answer, and Sakura wasn't planning on answering anyway. But before thinks could get better or worse for the two Shinobi, Sakura's face fell, "but what about my work at the hospital?" she demanded.

Kakashi rose his hands to calm her down a little, "Tsunade-sama is looking to find someone to take your place during your absence," he reassured as calmly as he could.

Slowly, Sakura relaxed herself and slouch a little on the couch. She sighed softly and said, "well, at least I get a break from working so much there," she shrugged her shoulders as if there was nothing more to worry about.

"So why were you so late to leave the hospital yesterday?" asked the Copy Nin coolly.

The pink haired Kunoichi glanced at him and answered, "I was working a double shift because someone who was supposed to be taking the late shift was sick of the flu and so I volunteered to take his place," she stared at the blank TV screen before her and saw her reflection.

She realised she was in a rather terrible state; sleeping for so long without proper exercise and not having showered for two days was just pushing it. She frowned at her appearance, but was pulled out of her disappointments when Kakashi asked another question, "how did you actually manage to injure yourself just like that?"

It seemed so different coming from her former sensei, but Kakashi had a point. Sakura could tell by the tone of his voice that she could've avoided such accidents if she had only just looked ahead.

"First of all, I practically had no chakra left," she gave the man a quick glance, "second, it was raining, and three, I was tired and wasn't completely aware of my surroundings,"

She practically gave up on her last reason, sighing deeply in defeat. Kakashi nodded sympathetically nonetheless and sensed how frustrated she was at the moment. Then something triggered the Copy Nin's thoughts that could make Sakura happy.

"How about you take a nice long shower, and I lend you some of my old stuff while your clothes get washed," Kakashi asked thoughtfully.

Sakura's jaw dropped a little and her brows rose. She stood up as gently as she could, "thank you," she said with a tired smile and crutched her way past the older Jounin and towards the bathroom.

Kakashi followed suit and quickly detoured into his room to find a pair of clean clothes for Sakura to wear. He quickly made his way into the bathroom, averting his eyes just in case, "here's some clean clothes for you; they're the smallest I could find at the moment,"

He opened his eyes to luckily find Sakura still fully clothed, but grinning mildly at the silver haired man when he walked in while covering his eyes. She took the clothes handed to her, "thank you," she smiled softly at the man, expecting him to smile back and leave the room.

She turned around on a limp and turned on the shower. She tested the temperature until she was satisfied and was about to take her shirt off when she sensed Kakashi was still at the door. When Sakura turned around to face Kakashi, said man was holding a tiny bottle of liquid in his hand.

"What's this for?" Sakura asked as she took the bottle into her own hand, examining it carefully.

"It's something Tsunade-sama wanted you to use twice a day on your leg until it's fully healed," he said with a shrug, a light smug on his masked face when he noticed the way Sakura stared at the bottle like a cat playing with a ball of yarn.

There was a moment of silence in the room, and Sakura was just about to remove the shirt for the second time round, when she felt Kakashi's gaze on her once more. She faced him, watching his unfazed expression nearly observe every part of her upper body, daring not to go any lower.

"Umm…can you…uh, I'd like to…" she gestured to the still running shower and the shirt she was about to take off.

"Oh! Sorry," Kakashi scratched the side of his face sheepishly as he quickly shut the door.

Sakura stared at the door for no reason at all before returning her attention to the shower. Stripping off the clothes she was allowed to borrow, Sakura shivered from the departed warmth of clothing and quickly hid under the rain of the shower without hurting herself in the process. The feeling of the near hot water cascading down her back made her sigh in contentment; she was finally able to take a hot shower. She so needed this right now, and she was right; after a whole day of working one minute and falling face first into a puddle of muddy water; injuring herself in the process, and then laying in someone else's bed for a day and a half was not very healthy for her skin, and a shower was the only medicine for that.

She searched the small shelf next to the shower knobs for shampoo and only had one, which was a men's brand in which Sakura must've guessed was Kakashi's favourite. She opened the bottle and took a whiff of the scent and it reeked of Kakashi, or well either that or Kakashi reeked of this. It had a hint of pine and something Sakura couldn't put her finger on.

This being her only option for clean hair, Sakura had no choice but to use it. She tried using as little as possible to reduce the amount of smell. Smearing the clear cream into her hair, scrubbing her scalp thoroughly, the medic felt her mind clear about feeling so filthy for two days. Quickly rinsing the shampoo out of her hair, letting the soapy water run the length of her body.

She came to her decision that living with Kakashi for two weeks until her injuries were healed would be something of a challenge for both Kakashi and her, but fun at the same time, by the sounds of it.

* * *

**Author's notes**: End of chapter two, but I'll be sure to get the next chapter updated as soon as I can. I'm already working on it, but I'm also working on another story, so it might slow me down in the process. But as I was saying, I will update soon (I hope), and I hope you liked this chapter so far. How did I do? You tell me P, leave behind a review or two if you want, lemme know what you think of my work XD

Laters


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's notes**: Okay, it took me a while to update, because I've been a bit busy with other things, so I am sorry. I don't think I have much to say other than enjoy the chapter, so...enjoy the chapter XD.

Kakashi: far out, it took Yanny88 a while to upload didn't she?

Sakura: Yeah, but at least the next chapter is up XD

Kakashi: fair enough

Sakura: Man...I'm tempted to just scream out what happens next!

Kakashi: no, don't, that'll spoil it for everyone

Sakura: which is why they call them spoilers, but I'm not mean

Kakashi: good. Anyways, enjoy the chapter

* * *

CHAPTER THREE: THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Sighing in bliss at her now clean self, Sakura stepped out of the shower, wrapping a fluffy white towel around herself. Now that the light around her wasn't dull and dark like it had been for the past two days, Sakura was able to take a better look at her injuries. She stood before the large mirror, fogged by the condensation but wiped it off to check herself.

She was wet, that was an obvious fact, but she could see a cut above her right eyebrow and a bruise and a small cut on her lower lip where she must've split it when she fell.

The medic saw a few scratches on her neck and collarbone, along with a bruise or two. Everything seemed small and not much to worry about, but Sakura hadn't known the damage would be like this. Gazing down at herself, the pink haired Kunoichi found yet another bruise on her arm, most likely from trying to break the fall with her hands. She glanced lower and her knees were grazed and the nasty injury she received was slightly healed by Tsunade after her visit, but it showed a big ugly bruise in place of the puncture wound.

So in conclusion of her physical check-up, Sakura looked like shit. She even felt like shit too. Only now after a day and a half did Sakura realise how much of a mess she must've looked like when Kakashi helped her, and practically saved her from the cold. She had the faint feeling Kakashi was disappointed in her for letting this happen, and she also thought Kakashi must've felt a little embarrassed that his top student hurt herself in an accident like this one.

There was a knock at the door, "Sakura-chan, are you okay? It's been quiet for a while now. Is everything alright in there?" came the voice from beyond the door.

"Yeah I'm fine," Sakura called back, drying her hair roughly with her towel and getting dressed before Kakashi could attempt to enter the bathroom.

Tossing on the shirt Kakashi let her borrow, Sakura dried the remaining parts of her hair before opening the door to find Kakashi about to knock again, "sorry if I kept you waiting," she smiled sweetly at the man before her.

Kakashi shrugged before his nose twitched at a very familiar scent. Sakura's cheeks turned a light shade of pink when she heard Kakashi sniff the air suspiciously in front of her, "you used my shampoo," was all he said as he pointed at the medic's pink hair.

Sakura looked up to meet his droopy gaze and said, "it was the only thing available at the moment," she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted like a child.

Kakashi chuckled, "no worries, we'll make a stop at your place and pick up some things so you won't have to keep relying on me to supply you with everything," he pointed at the clothes Sakura had on at the moment, grinning somewhat.

"But first," Kakashi raised his pointed finger to the cuts on Sakura's face, "we'll need to take a look at those cuts on your face,"

The Copy Nin gently rubbed his thumb over the cut just above Sakura's pink eyebrow and made her flinch at the touch. She winced at the sting on her face when Kakashi touched her there; the cut hurt pretty bad, and she hadn't realised that until now.

She jerked her head away from the man's hand, scowling as she stood there. She looked frustrated, and Kakashi could see how upset she must've felt inwardly because of all this. He sighed, "come on," he motioned the medic to follow him and the two walked into the living room.

"Just sit there while I get the first aid kit," he allowed the Kunoichi to take a seat before he dashed off in search of the medical pack he had in the bathroom.

He returned with said kit in hand and sat down on the couch next to Sakura and instantly got to work, "according to Tsunade-sama, you can't heal injuries yourself because some of your chakra signals have been damaged," he said as he pulled out the bottle he handed to Sakura earlier.

"This bottle here is supposed to draw out chakra and forcedly heal the damaged signals in any area of the body, but it takes time for it to take effect and heal so don't expect yourself to be able to use your chakra after one use,"

Sakura nodded mutely.

Kakashi then proceeded to tending to the cuts and bruises on Sakura's body, or at least he could try at make them not look so bad. He soaked a wet cloth in some of the ointment from his first aid pack and dabbed it gently on her the woman's eyebrow, only to have her flinch and jerk her head away momentarily before letting the man do his work.

"Sorry," he muttered after seeing her reaction.

Sakura watched the Jounin's lone visible eye concentrate solely on the task at hand. She watched how delicate Kakashi's hands were when he touched her face even the slightest; as if she would scream in pain if he didn't do what he was doing currently.

She smiled softly at a thought that just came up, "what's with that smirk on your face?" the Copy Nin voiced with a risen eyebrow. Sakura met his lazy gaze, "it's kind of ironic don't you think?" she replied, pointing at the cut Kakashi was presently working on to give him a hint.

He still didn't catch on, "how so?" he pressed on.

The pink haired medic rolled her eyes, "how the fact that you always came to me when you were injured because you didn't like going to the hospital," she paused, hoping the man got the idea. A grin spread across his hidden features, "and now you're sitting here in my home, with me tending to your wounds, because you aren't well enough to take care of yourself," he finished, his only visible eye creasing in a smile.

Sakura's smile softened a little, "yeah, exactly," she beamed happily before wincing again when Kakashi dabbed the cloth on her injuries.

Kakashi finished cleaning the cut on Sakura's eyebrow, and found the next cut he had to fix. The only unfortunate thing for him was that it was on Sakura's lower lip, something Kakashi didn't really want to go close to. The silver haired Jounin stared at Sakura's slightly parted lips momentarily before ridding himself of those unwanted thoughts.

He held Sakura's face gently in his hand, tilting it toward the candlelight so he could see a bit better, while his other free hand tended to the cut.

Sakura had to force herself not to say anything, otherwise the job of cleaning the graze on her lower lip would be more irritating as it was to begin with. She noticed how tense Kakashi was when doing this, but sometimes she was just tempted to say something out loud, thinking it was necessary for him to know, which in most cases, it usually wasn't.

* * *

For most of the very boring evening, Kakashi and Sakura were sitting on the couch, playing cards and exchanging small talk. A game of scum with two packs of cards always did the trick for Kakashi, and it was pretty much the only game he knew, so he didn't have much of a choice.

"Ha! President again!" Sakura slammed her hand on the cushioned surface of the couch and beamed triumphantly, "looks like this is a game that you'll never beat me it, sensei,"

"I told you before, I'm the man at this game, I'm just letting you win so I don't have to feel sorry for you," Kakashi announced as his only excuse available.

"Yeah right Kakashi, you just suck at this game."

Kakashi scowled almost childishly at the Kunoichi, but didn't try to show he was annoyed with her. Sakura rolled her eyes, having a little bit of sympathy for the Copy Nin.

"Okay fine," she gave him a thoughtful glance, "I'll teach you a different card game,"

Kakashi was happy for that.

They got straight into the rules of the game, which was a game called rummy. A smile played on Kakashi's masked lips; the rules sounded difficult but they also sounded fun at the same time.

"And then you have to lay down anything that adds to thirty, but they have to be in suit, or going in order," Sakura explained as easily as she could without confusing herself, "like this, see?" she set down an example and all she could hear from the other jounin was, "ooooh," he tuned in thoughtfully.

As soon as Sakura was done babbling on about the rules, she lay the cards down to start a round of rummy, "okay, you have thirteen cards, so you start," she pointed out, waiting for the Copy Nin to put down a card next to the stack.

After a few minutes, Kakashi got the hang of the game and was actually…really good. The medic was getting irritated after the second round when Kakashi beat her, and it went on like that for a while.

* * *

It was now pretty late, and the thunder and lightning was strongly present in Konoha. Strong gale force winds heaving across the village, sweeping stands, signs, and the roofs of some buildings.

Kakashi's house however was one of the more lucky places to be; his house was lower than the majority of the buildings in the area and was protected by them too, so he didn't get much of the damage as the others.

Their card game earlier had turned into an argument and the two Jounins just sat there, staring at the wall of Kakashi's living room. Sakura was already tired when she got up to walk around earlier and she could barely stay awake now.

"So did you hear anything about Naruto and Hinata?" Sakura asked, bored of doing nothing and staying silent.

"Not really," Kakashi muttered, "Naruto doesn't mention Hinata all that much to me."

Sakura shifted her position on the couch, "Naruto told me a few days back that he was going to propose to Hinata," she smiled at the thought of Naruto and Hinata getting married.

Kakashi's brows rose, "Naruto never told me that," he was rather surprised to hear this coming from Sakura, and not Naruto, "maybe he wanted to save the news until he had actually gotten an answer," he reassured himself and sighed as he leaned back.

There was a moment of silence between the two Shinobi.

"So…" Kakashi outwardly thought, "what do think about this mission?" he asked, gesturing to the medic's leg.

Sakura sat up, frowning at her injury momentarily before answering the man, "not so sure actually…" she mumbled softly as she leaned back against the couch.

Kakashi stood up and put the cards away and made his way into the kitchen, "does it bother you that you have to stay here in my house for the next few weeks?" he pressed on without looking at the pink haired Kunoichi.

Only silence answered.

The Copy Nin rose an eyebrow, wondering if Sakura was still thinking about the question he just asked, but when he turned around to glance at her, Sakura was already asleep on the couch.

He smiled softly beneath his mask at his former student sleeping on his couch.

He walked over to his couch where Sakura lay almost motionless in her dreams, and slid his arm under Sakura's back, sitting her up slowly without waking her. With his other arm under Sakura's knees, Kakashi lifted the medic as gently as he could and silently carried her to his room.

Kakashi lay Sakura on the bed and tugged the blanket over her. Just before leaving her to rest, Kakashi noticed a nasty bruise on the inside of her arms, in the shape of hand prints, like someone held her rather tight.

How could he have not noticed this before? Kakashi felt a little upset that someone would hurt Sakura, but then again, it could've been something else. But they resembled hands too much, so Kakashi couldn't look on a more positive fact.

He pushed the thought aside for the moment and blew out the candle that was still burning on the bedside table and left the room.

Kakashi pulled out the spare blanket and pillow from behind the couch and made himself comfortable on the sofa. In the morning, Kakashi would have to ask Sakura about those bruises on her arms, but now, he needed some rest.

The first thing Kakashi woke up to was something that sounded like a bomb went off near his own home. He was up in an instant, panting slightly from the sound, but relaxed himself when he realised it was only thunder that had caused it.

So it was still pouring down, Kakashi sighed. Will the storm ever let up, Kakashi didn't know, but at least he could just get up and kill time before Sakura woke up.

* * *

Sakura was practically ripped out of her dreams when she heard the thunder strike so close. She was barely able to sleep properly because of the storm that night, but at least she got some rest. Sakura hadn't noticed that she had fallen asleep on the couch, and only realised that shortly after Kakashi put her to bed. She had heard Kakashi's final question before sleep took over, but she only heard it barely.

She slowly crawled out of bed, setting her feet on the cold wooden floor and standing with a bit of difficulty. She stretched her arms up high and reached down to touch her toes. Another stretch and a small crack in her back signalled she was awake properly now.

The Kunoichi grabbed her crutches and made her way out of the room and into the living room, where she most likely expected Kakashi still asleep. Surprisingly, Kakashi wasn't still asleep, but in fact, wide awake like she was.

The only thing Sakura was really surprised about was the fact that Kakashi was doing pull-ups on a rail that was situated high above the passage from the kitchen to the living room. The first thing Sakura did was stop and stare at the shirtless Kakashi working out right before her eyes, and he probably didn't notice she was just standing there. Too bad he was still wearing his mask.

She couldn't help but admire Kakashi's well-toned body and the way his muscles tensed when he pulled his entire weight up and relax his arms when he went back down.

Kakashi was so caught up in his little work out that he didn't noticed his former student standing there, watching him. But when he caught on to what was happening, Kakashi hung there, not so sure what to say.

"Morning," he decided to go the smooth way this morning.

Sakura rose a pink eyebrow at the other Jounin, "morning," she replied, unable to take her eyes off the man hanging off a rail in the kitchen.

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask and let go of the rail, giving Sakura a nice view of his toned body. He raised his arms, stretching them out as high as they could reach and then doing a few other stretches along his arms and upper body. He purposely did that to see what Sakura's reaction would be, and he couldn't help but chuckle when she just stared wide-eyed at him, unable to speak.

"How about some breakfast?" he suggested with a wide grin on his face.

Sakura nodded slowly, her gaze no different than seconds before. Kakashi rolled his eyes plainly and grabbed his shirt as he sunk to the floor to open his fridge. It was one of those small fridges that you have to kneel down on the ground to see what you're getting.

The rather aghast medic shook her head, mentally slapping herself for staring at him for so long, '_but he__'__s so damn hot_,' Inner Sakura groaned, wiping the saliva from her lower lip and making odd gestures with her hands, meaning something to do with Sakura's hands and Kakashi's body.

'_Oh bugger off_,' Sakura spat back at her Inner self.

'_But you have to admit, he__'__s really good looking_,' she fisted the air viciously, grinning evilly.

'But_, he's my sensei, and I shouldn't be thinking about him like_ that,' she protested against it, even though she had to admit what Inner Sakura had told her before.

'_He__'__s your _former _sensei, okay? _Former_. So you have a good shot at a guy like him_,'

Sakura was getting frustrated with her Inner self, '_that doesn__'__t mean I can just go __'__guy shopping.__'__ And besides, Kakashi__'__s probably so caught up in his self control with his emotions that he probably doesn__'__t even see what he__'__s doing_,' she spat back inwardly, hoping her Inner self would shut up.

Alas, Sakura was doomed from the start when she discovered the mix between Inner Sakura and men.

'_Are you kidding? I bet Kakashi dreams of every woman in Konoha, and I__'__m pretty sure he can get action easily with that body_,' she purred at the thought of a shirtless Kakashi roaming the streets in public.

Inner silence.

'_I bet Kakashi thinks about you all the time_,' she pressed on, '_he probably wants you to suck on his-_'

"Sausages, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi mused from behind the counter, holding up a packet of sausages in one hand and a plate of buttered toast in the other.

Sakura glanced over and smiled, trying to hide the mental image of what Inner Sakura had proposed before, "sure," she said between clenched teeth and sat down on the couch with a huff.

The smell of food lingered in the air, and Sakura's stomach was in dire need of breakfast. She stared at her feet before her ears caught the sound of Kakashi humming a tune that sounded a bit familiar.

She smiled; she liked this tune. Plus, she hadn't noticed that Kakashi had a great voice. Sakura glanced over at the tall Jounin working in the kitchen, happily making breakfast for her, and her smile widened. Before she even knew it herself, she was humming along with the tune that floated merrily in the atmosphere.

Kakashi's ears perked up, "aah, so you know this song too?" he asked with a grin on his masked face.

Sakura nodded, "yeah, I love this song," she replied.

Soon the moment had passed and Kakashi had the food set on the table. He motioned Sakura to join him at the table, and so, the medic did what she was told and slowly but surely made her way to the table.

The food smelt great, and Sakura momentarily watched Kakashi's proud grin before digging into breakfast, "thanks for making breakfast," she said after finishing her sausages within minutes.

"Well I pretty much have no choice because it's a mission, but don't worry about; I don't mind taking care of you."

With that, Sakura smiled sweetly at him before resuming breakfast. She often glanced up from her food and saw the bowl of cereal that sat in front of Kakashi slowly empty at every second. She had noticed Kakashi was taking bites of his milky cereal at such a speed that all she could see was missing food in the bowl.

Kakashi noticed the way Sakura just stared in awe at the man, but soon shrugged it off and ate.

"Once the weather clears up later today - I hope - we'll go to your place and pick up a few things," he reminded after getting up and putting his bowl in the sink.

"Okay," Sakura replied as she handed the other Jounin the plates and other tableware.

The two Jounins silently worked away the dishes; Kakashi washing and Sakura drying. Sakura glanced at him a few times before deciding to end the irritating silence, "I didn't know you could sing," she said absentmindedly as she set a plate away.

Kakashi chuckled nervously, his mind travelling back through his memories when he last sung in front of someone else's ears. At the time, he was much younger of course, and ANBU members usually had nothing to do in their spare time, so they often had a karaoke night from time to time, and there was an occasion when Kakashi and Gai had a challenge: Rock, Paper, Scissors to be precise. The loser had to sing at the ANBU karaoke night, and as clearly noticed, Kakashi lost and actually sung in front of the Shinobi audience, who later on commented that his voice sounded like heaven when in action.

Since then, Kakashi vowed to never sing again, but whenever he was cooking, he always managed to let some tunes escape every now and then. Now Sakura would ask a few questions relating to his ability to sing, and why he never decided to sing openly in the first place.

"Well…I don't think it's that good," he chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head with his soapy hand. Woops.

"I think it sounds good," Sakura protested, another plate set away on the pile and now drying the forks.

Kakashi sighed. Maybe she wasn't going to ask why he never sung out in public. It was pretty obvious to see why. Firstly, Kakashi wasn't one to favour large public and crowded areas. In fact, Kakashi avoided such things for so long. Secondly, he was a ninja, so he was taught how to control all emotions known, and thus he never expressed himself in song. Also, Kakashi kept it in mind that if a ninja sings, they're a sissy and possibly gay.

He pushed those slightly negative thoughts aside for now and handed Sakura another spoon.

He sighed again, "well, thanks; I don't really prefer to sing or show off anything else I have besides my ninja skills out on the battlefield," Sakura grinned thoughtfully, setting the remaining of the cutlery away in the drawer of the kitchen and tossing the handtowel at the other Jounin with a smug smile.

"Such as your face?" she suggested mordantly.

"No," Kakashi spat back in total denial, crossing his arms childishly before finishing his statement, "that's another reason," he added softly and gave Sakura a suspicious glance.

Sakura placed a finger on her chin pensively, "so can I see it?" she asked, pushing the man's buttons a few more times.

Kakashi brushed past the medic and said, "hmmm, maybe later," his only excuse was to make Sakura eager to tail him around to see more of him, kind of like this morning, but what she saw then was Kakashi's fault.

* * *

**Author's notes**: There you have it, chapter three done. I really loved the Inner Sakura part XD, I just had to add something so random like that in this chapter. I have a feeling this fic will be much shorter than my last one, but lets just wait and see how it turns out. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can scrape out time for it XD.

Sakura: gutted...couldn't see your face :S

Kakashi: well like I said before, maybe later...:P

Sakura: this is why I can't always relate to you Kakashi, you're so knocked in the head

Kakashi: (grins) mine's not the only one that's been knocked in he head a few times...

Sakura: ...

Kakashi: (laughs) they don't call me Copy Ninja for nothing you know...(grins)

Sakura: you perv...

Kakashi: anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, until next time :D


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's notes**: Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to update; I've been sick lately and I wasn't really able to work on the story for a while, so gomen. Anyway, tis chapter four now; I'm up to chapter...9 at the moment from what I can remember and it is getting good. I won't hold you up anymore, so I'll throw you over to Sakura and Kakashi who'll say a few things and let you enjoy the chapter.

Sakura: I heard everyone is getting sick lately

Kakashi: yeah, you for one

Sakura: (gasps) don't spoil it you nimrod, you'll ruin the whole thing!

Kakashi: fine, fine, gomen

Sakura: Anyway, here's chapter four for you guys

Kakashi: hope you like, enjoy XD

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR: TROUBLE FOR SAKURA

It was midday in Konoha; everyone remained indoors due to the thunderstorm that kicked in a while after breakfast and the power was cut off again.

Kakashi had his nose firmly stuck in his infamous Icha Icha book, while Sakura stared at the ceiling for the past hour. She had absolutely nothing to do; she let her mind wonder off into all sorts of places, most of which she had never expected to think of before.

The fact that it was raining heavily, definitely proved that the sky was dark and gloomy almost the whole day, so Sakura lost track of time because she couldn't see where the sun was or what time it was generally.

It turned out to be something like 6 something p.m. when she found out a long time after and Sakura had no idea it was this late already.

"Once it gets dark I think we should head out to your apartment and pick up your things," Kakashi said without taking his eyes (or eye in this case) off his book.

"Why do it when it gets dark?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow in questioning.

Kakashi sighed, "so no one will see us and get the wrong idea," he put simply, lazily flipping a page of his orange book.

"Fair enough," Sakura muttered, lying back on the couch with a sigh and gazed up at the ceiling again. She decided to count all the spiders that were hiding in ever corner of the room, '_twelve..._' she moved on to the next corner.

'_Twenty-four__…_' the spiders kept counting up.

She kept counting until she found the mother whopper of a spider that just crawled out of a small crack in the corner on the ceiling. She decided to leave the spiders at ease and not bother with counting how many friends Kakashi must've had in this building.

It must've been a long time since Kakashi cleaned out the spiders from his home, but like it mattered to her; she wasn't living in it.

"Okay, lets go," Kakashi shut his book and set it on the table as he stood.

Stretching his arms up until his back let out a small cracking sound and glanced at the medic, who was slowly taking her time to stand up with her crutches as if she was an old lady.

Sakura excused herself to Kakashi's room to fetch her shoes, and when she returned, Kakashi handed her a rain jacket. Helping the medic into the jacket, the Copy Nin had to be sure Sakura would be okay under the rain with the coat on.

"Climb on," Kakashi said plainly, facing his back to Sakura.

The Kunoichi shrugged and obeyed his orders and - without hurting her leg - hopped up on Kakashi's back, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging tightly to him as he opened the door.

The rush of fresh cold air and rain was overwhelming and Sakura wanted to go back inside to melt and sleep in a thick blanket.

"Ready?" Kakashi wondered, sticking close to the walls of his house so they wouldn't get wet.

It was dark, and Sakura trusted Kakashi, so she was sure they'd be okay, "yep," she muttered as she hid her face behind the man's head for a bit of extra shelter.

Kakashi tightened his grip around the medic's legs and leapt up on the roof of a building and raced across to the next. Avoiding flooded areas, Kakashi took great care in carrying Sakura on his back and he prayed to keep her safe, as promised to Tsunade herself when he was given the mission.

It was really dark, and Sakura was amazed that Kakashi could see so well in the dark with only one eye currently in use. But Kakashi wasn't called 'legendary' for nothing, and Kakashi had most of his life's experience with only one eye on the battlefield and Kakashi was fine.

The Copy Nin finally arrived at Sakura's apartment and sighed when he was at the front door, "Sakura-chan, the key," he reminded, nudging the medic a little in case she had fallen asleep.

"Here," Sakura promptly handed the man her key.

Kakashi quickly unlocked the door and practically dove into the building to get out of the rain. He slammed the door shut and sighed deeply as he set Sakura on her own two feet.

Sakura frowned and gave a disgruntled groan, "damn…forgot my crutches," she cursed, a little irritated that she couldn't walk around safely anymore.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "come here," he grabbed the pink haired medic's arm and wrapped it around the back of his neck, keeping it hold with his right hand while his left was holding Sakura by the waist, "I'll be your crutches for the time being," he grinned sheepishly at the younger Jounin and slowly began walking, aiding Sakura to her room to pack some things.

'_Kakashi sure is being nice all of a sudden. Hmm, must be the mission I__'__m guessing_,' she inwardly wondered, glancing up at the lazy expression that was Kakashi's.

The two entered the dark room and Sakura hit the lights quickly. Kakashi helped her to the bed and sat her down gently, before looking around the room to take in the sight. Sakura's room was a dull light grey; her bed practically being the only thing to give some colour in the room. The wall where her desk was up against was covered in posters, mostly of anything that Sakura seemed to like. Old class academy photos, photos of her and Ino when they were even younger, and even an adorable picture of Sakura as a baby.

Kakashi smiled sweetly, "that's a cute photo," he commented as he approached the poster wall.

Sakura blushed a sweet shade of pink and stood up, hobbling over to the Jounin, "that's just something I wanted to keep before I left my parents' house," she told him, trying to ignore the growing smirk on Kakashi's face.

The picture of baby Sakura looked so cute. She seemed so innocent, just lying there in her little bed, her big emerald eyes wide open with her pink hair just hanging over her forehead, and looking like a little angel with that smile.

The silver haired Jounin explored the rest of the wall with the mass amounts of images. There were many of her at the hospital, several occasions like her birthdays, but most of all, group photos of her and her old team back in the day.

"Okay, I'll need some help packing," Sakura said, pulling Kakashi away from his gaze.

She was now reaching high above a closet, trying to reach something up on the top, "right," Kakashi quickly decided to step in and help before Sakura would hurt herself. He barely had to reach; his arms were long enough to just lazily reach the bags that were neatly hidden away on top of the closet.

"Thanks," Sakura smiled sweetly and threw them on the ground and opened her closet.

She wasn't too keen on showing Kakashi what she had hidden away in her closet, but seen that she had to live with the man for a few weeks, she guessed she didn't have much of a choice.

Kakashi took a chair from the desk and sat down, watching Sakura throw all sorts of clothes onto the ground, not caring where they landed, unless it was her lingerie if they landed near or even on Kakashi, then she'd be worried, let alone embarrassed.

As soon as Sakura had pretty much emptied and showed Kakashi all the clothes she owned besides very formal outfits that she thought she wouldn't wear, Sakura sat down, trying her best to ignore the pain that she just felt when she landed on her backside, forcing the muscles in her legs to strain also, thus resulting in a little more pain than expected.

The tall Jounin, still sitting on the chair, looked back at the wall of memorable photos from the good old days. Kakashi's eye trailed along the decoration, taking in each and every picture Sakura had displayed. There was the old classic picture of Team 7 when they first started, dead centre of the wall above her desk. It was surrounded by other snapshots of the team.

There was one of Team 7 going swimming in the rivers; it was a hot day that day, and Kakashi could clearly remember when Sakura got angry at Naruto for splashing her and chased him around for a while until the blonde clumsily fell into the water. There were more pictures of Sakura when she was very young; she had a microphone in her hand that seemed way too big for her petit size and was singing by the way she posed in front of her parents and a few other people.

Kakashi noticed a few of Sakura as a grown woman when Naruto and Jiraiya went away for two and a half years. It was of her when Gaara was revived and everyone wanted to have a picture with the Kazekage, so it was a massive group photo. The only ones that were missing in that photo was Chiyo-baa chan, because she had already died the day earlier, and Kakashi himself, because he was practically knocked out and too worn out to even bother showing up.

"Are you going to help me or are you just going to sit there and stare at all the photos?" Sakura asked, smirking a little at the way Kakashi just glanced at her like he just woke up.

"Oh, sorry," the silver haired Jounin got off the chair and joined Sakura on the floor.

At that point, Kakashi was thrown pants, small tops, baggy T-shirts, jackets and skirts. Sakura was wise enough not to hand him her underwear and bras; she would take care of those herself.

It was a near silent job as Kakashi folded a few pairs of jeans, and other clothes. He had evidently noticed Sakura was packing mostly warm things and only a few short skirts and low cut tops. He figured the medic was doing the smart thing and wear the things she will need to get better, rather than the things she wants to wear.

* * *

Sakura and Kakashi had finished packing the bag and were ready to head back to Kakashi's home. The medic quickly hobbled from the bathroom, carrying a small bag with her toothbrush, hairbrush and her special hair products.

Kakashi couldn't help but roll his eyes when he saw Sakura come out of her room also with a small teddy bear under her arms.

The medic stuffed the bear in the bag and noticed Kakashi's questioning grin, "what? Can't a grown girl have a teddy bear anymore?" she asked cheekily as she zipped up the last few pockets of her bag.

The older Jounin said nothing and shrugged, "are we ready?" Kakashi picked up the bag, and received a nod from the pink haired Kunoichi.

"Jump on," Kakashi turned around and allowed Sakura to climb up onto his back, her legs wrapped securely around his sides.

Feeling that Sakura wasn't going to fall or anything, Kakashi opened the door and exited the building. The rush of cold, windy and rainy air made Sakura shiver slightly. She handed Kakashi the key to her apartment and they were off.

The Copy Nin leapt from rooftop to rooftop, avoiding any slips or weak areas while still trying to take the quickest route home. The first thing he was alerted with, was a sneeze from the medic. The second was Sakura coughing like crazy as if she was almost choking on something, '_not good_,' Kakashi thought, looking out the corner of his eye worriedly and picking up the pace a little.

"We're almost home Sakura-chan," Kakashi reassured, hoping Sakura could hold out until they got back.

Upon receiving no reply or movement, Kakashi was starting to worry…a lot. He also felt Sakura's legs that were wrapped around him, loosen slowly. Was she asleep? No, Sakura wouldn't fall asleep in this situation, would she? The silver haired Jounin decided to raise his voice a little, "Sakura-chan, stay with me; don't go out on me yet," he felt her shiver uncontrollably as he reached the street to his house.

Slowing down to a stop under a small shelter on his street, Kakashi rearranged everything he was carrying, "Sakura-chan!" he called through the sound of the rain. He sat the bag down on the ground to assess the situation.

Kakashi reached back, letting Sakura's leg fall limp to the ground. The only thing that kept the medic from falling to the ground was Kakashi's hand, tightly holding her shoulder. With one swift movement, Kakashi had Sakura in his arms in front of him, holding her by her upper arms; her head tilted back, barely showing any signs of life.

A flash of lightning gave Kakashi some light to see, but he didn't like it. He saw a flash of Sakura's face; there was a smudge of blood down the side of her mouth. Having no other way to do it, Kakashi pressed Sakura right up against him, wrapping one arm around her motionless body tightly without crushing her of course.

He picked up the bag and sped down the street, hoping to get out of the rain quickly. With Sakura pressed against him, Kakashi figured it could keep the medic warm enough until he got inside, but something had him practically freaking out. He couldn't feel or sense Sakura's heartbeat.

'_Fuck!_' the Jounin inwardly cursed, starting assume the worst would happen.

He finally made it home and quickly slammed the door shut, rushing Sakura to the bedroom. He had long dumped the bag at the door; Sakura being the only thing on his mind right now.

"Sakura!" he called again as he set Sakura on the bed.

Kakashi was panting heavily, his gaze examining every part of the medic's body. He reached over and checked the Kunoichi's pulse, "no…no, no, NO" he repeated in fear of losing Sakura, when he felt no pulse at all.

The Copy Nin began the CPR process and pressed down a few times on the medic's chest, trying to bring Sakura back.

Nothing happened.

"Sakura!"

He looked around the room, while at the same time, trying to warm her body up as quickly as he could. He bit his lower lip fretfully. He had no other options left, and he wanted to save Sakura's life…or try to.

Kakashi sighed, cupping Sakura's face in his hand before he pulled down his mask, still panting heavily and brought his face down until his lips met her parted ones.

He so hoped this would work.

Trying to send oxygen into Sakura's body, Kakashi pulled away and pressed down on her chest again repeatedly before repeating the mouth-to-mouth process.

Kakashi tried once more with the mouth-to-mouth, losing hope, but it was swiftly brought back to him when he felt Sakura's lip twitch against his.

He pulled away, finding Sakura coughing a little and her body shaking non-stop. Kakashi resumed warming her up, rubbing his hands up and down the Kunoichi's arms, "Sakura-chan, can you hear me?" Kakashi asked finally, leaning forward a little to see her reaction better.

Sakura coughed again, shaking still and her eyes closed tight. Seemed like she wasn't going to wake up any time soon, but at least she was alive and…relatively okay. Kakashi sighed deeply, seeing the medic's eyes open a crack before they closed again and falling into a deep sleep.

Breathing heavily, the silver haired Jounin pulled up his mask, gulping under another sigh, '_thank Kami_,' he was grateful for Sakura's safety and got up, rubbing the back of his neck in relief and pulled a blanket over the now sleeping Kunoichi and left the room.

He settled down on the couch, staring at the bag with Sakura's things packed inside and thought about how fast everything had just gone by. Kakashi was also trying to figure out how Sakura's heart had just stopped like that. Either way, Kakashi was both tired and wet, but he was glad Sakura didn't die.

Slowly, Kakashi allowed his body to relax and he fell into a deep sleep, dreaming peacefully.

* * *

"_Kakashi__…_" a voice called out to him.

Kakashi was having such a lovely dream about being in such a peaceful place, where all his wishes came true, but he never expected a scared voice to call out his name.

"_Kakashi__…_" there it went again.

The voice sounded as though the person was crying. The silver haired Jounin then knew who was calling his name. It was Sakura, and she sounded like she was in a lot of distress.

Wait a minute…

Kakashi opened his eyes; it was dark, so he figured the power must've gone off again. He took in a breath, sighing briefly before hearing, "Kakashi…" again. Now Kakashi knew it wasn't just his dream playing tricks on him.

Turns out, Kakashi had outwardly heard Sakura's voice calling out to him, but it registered as being something in a dream. The Jounin stretched his arms out and stood up, quickly walking into his room to find Sakura sitting upright, crying.

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" asked the Copy Nin subtly as he sat down on the bed by Sakura.

The medic was trembling, and before Kakashi knew what hit him, Sakura had her arms around him tightly and began to cry, "w-what…happened to me K-Kakashi?" she mumbled in between sobs.

Kakashi had no idea what she was talking about, but he didn't want to scare the living hell out of the medic by telling her she was dead for about five minutes, "what are you talking about?" he asked as if he knew nothing at all.

Sakura was really upset, and she looked as though she had been left alone, rejected and hurt all at the same time for a long while, "when we were on our way home from…my apartment…and…I remember holding onto you on our way home…and then I went completely blank," she cried into Kakashi's chest, not letting him go any time soon.

"I can't remember anything; I was surrounded by darkness, and I was so cold," she added under another few broken sobs, sniffing sadly against the man.

Kakashi had his arms wrapped around her trembling body, keeping her close and letting her cry. With a sigh, he finally answered, "I felt you pass out against me and when I went to check up on you before we got home, you had blood along the side of your mouth and you had no pulse…" he frowned when he felt Sakura's stunned reaction.

"After realising there was pretty much no signs of life, I quickly brought you here," he paused, not really sure on how to explain the situation, "I had quickly attempted CPR, but it wasn't working, so I resorted to the final option, which saved your life in the end."

Sakura finally let go to look into his eyes, which was hard to see because of the darkness, "and what was that?" she wondered.

She just had to ask what it was, didn't she?

Kakashi sighed uneasily, "uh, well…" was all he could manage, but that was all Sakura needed as an answer. Although he couldn't see it, he could tell Sakura was blushing deeply because of the sudden awkward silence.

Sakura had no idea that Kakashi went to those lengths just to save her. She hugged him softly, "thank you," she mumbled into his chest, a fresh wave of tears running down her cheeks.

Kakashi sighed sympathetically, "I only did what I had to do," he glanced down at his feet, wondering if Sakura remembered anything when he had his mask down after saving her ass.

The medic sighed; she wanted to make it up to him somehow. She placed her hand on the man's shoulder, leaning closer to give him a kiss on his masked cheek, but ended up kissing something else. When Sakura had placed her hand on Kakashi's shoulder, said Copy Nin thought it was a gesture to get his attention, so he turned to face her, but he ended up having a pair of soft lips on his masked ones.

Oh shit.

Sakura opened her eyes in a snap and quickly pulled away, blushing a new shade of crimson, "I uhh-mm…that was not supposed to happen…" she stuttered, slightly embarrassed and looked at anything but at the slightly dazed man sitting next to her.

Kakashi's face flared a light shade of pink. Lucky he was wearing a mask and that it was too dark for either of them to see anything. There was an odd silence between the former student and teacher, as neither of them dared to speak.

"Well…" Kakashi finally ended the silence, fumbling around with his fingers, "…this is awkward…"

Sakura nodded shyly, before facing him, "I wasn't…trying…to kiss you there…" she said offhandedly, not sure where to go with this, "I was just trying to…thank you with…a kiss on the cheek," her blush darkened as she stared at the wooden floor and bit her lower lip.

Kakashi sighed uneasily, and placed his hand on the medic's shoulder, "don't worry about it, I'm sure by the morning, all this will be behind us and we'll all be laughing about it-"

* * *

Kakashi woke up with Sakura on his mind, '_shit__…_' was the first thought about that. He could not get his mind off that little incident from last night.

Even though it was only an accident, the silver haired Jounin couldn't stop thinking about Sakura…pretty much since he said they'd all be laughing about it in the morning.

Yeah, he'd be laughing awkwardly to himself, while Sakura is trying to have a life and not think about anything at all; probably wanting to pretend it never happened in the first place.

* * *

**Author's notes**: Yeah, I personally loved that chapter; one of my favs. I feel sorry for Sakura-chan, cause she pretty much died before they got home, and I feel even more sorry for Kakashi because he was the one freaking out and having to attempt all reviving techniques; though I had to admit that I just had to make him use the mouth-to-mouth thing. The accidental kiss was priceless XD.

Kakashi: Yeah...that kiss was kinda funny

Sakura: (blushes) yeah, just wait til you see the next chapter

Kakashi: speaking of which, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and we'll keep you updated as soon as we can

Sakura: click the little box down below to leave a sweet review too please :D

Sakura: Yeah, but wait till you hear what


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's notes**: hey it's me again. Ready to shoot out the next chapter asap; exams are coming up for me so I wanna get this out of the way as soon as I can, but I also want to let this last, you have no idea how much time I spend working on these, but I love what I do best. Hope you like this chappy :D.

Sakura: I wanna read this as much as anyone else does

Kakashi: good or you, I've got my good literature right here (shows Icha Icha book proudly)

Sakura: not for long, yoink! (snatches book)

Kakashi: HEY! No fair, that's so mean (pouts) give it back!

Sakura: nah! Read this chapter first, and maybe then I'll consider giving this back to you

Kakashi: ...Gah...fine, I'll read it

Sakura: good. Anyway, hope you like this chapter, and we'll meet you on the other end

Kakashi: hmph...

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE: AWKWARD MOMENTS

Kakashi sat up and rubbed his bare face, '_stupid kiss__…_' Kakashi mentally cursed, pouting in irritation at the thought of Sakura's soft lips against his in a searing hot-

Mental slap.

'_No Kakashi! Bad Kakashi_,' he scolded himself, trying to find a different mental image, other than thinking of walking into his bedroom to find Sakura naked and-

Mental slap.

'_Stop it!_' Kakashi was getting really frustrated now.

He couldn't help but picture Sakura in front of him, smiling seductively while she kneels down, unzipping his pants and reaching for his-

"Gah…!" this was harder than he thought.

"Okay Kakashi," he said to himself and stood up from the couch and slipping on his mask, "think of something other than your former student, damn it," he whispered to himself.

He paced in his living room for a minute and stopped with a disgusted cringe on his masked face whenever he thought of Sakura in a dirty way. But Sakura has such long smooth legs, and her ass looks so…squeezable-

Kakashi stopped, '_okay__…__umm__…__Gai naked!_' he thought, shuddering deeply at the thought of his naked rival, doing the 'Nice Guy' pose and a cheesy grin on his face.

Almost gagging at the thought, Kakashi paced again. Another dodgy thought of Sakura came up. He stopped again, '_Gai and Lee naked__…_' that one wasn't working, '_…__and__…__they__'__re having butt-sex together__…_' he pulled a face that looked like he was about to throw up, but he quickly began pacing again.

Another sick image popped up, '_the Third Hokage naked__…__NO! Too graphic!__…__um__…_' Kakashi had to think quickly before more dirty thoughts about a certain pink haired medic would give him ideas.

'…_Iruka making out with me-_' he stopped, froze dead in his tracks and held his mouth as though he said it out loud.

He quickly ran to the bathroom, locked the door, breathing heavily as he leaned against the door before sinking to the cold floor tiles, "okay ew…" he said to himself.

Those Icha Icha books were starting to get to him. He decided a shower was in order…a cold one preferably. He got up, took off his shirt and pants and turned the shower knob on.

He stood under the shower, and let the ice cold water run down his back, making him hold his breath from the sudden chill on his body. This wasn't necessarily good for him, but it got rid of the bad thoughts, thank Kami.

After about five minutes, Kakashi turned the shower to a hotter temperature and sighed in bliss when the warmth enveloped him soothingly. Cleansing his body with near hot water always did the trick. Sighing again, Kakashi washed his hair thoroughly before rinsing it out until he could easily run his hand through his hair without his fingers getting stuck in the knots.

He stepped out of the shower and quickly wrapped a towel around his waist, not bothering to dry off. He exited the bathroom and walked into his room to search for clean clothes to wear.

With his back facing his bed where Sakura slept at this current moment, Kakashi opened his closet with one hand while the other held the towel in place.

What he hadn't noticed at the time, was that Sakura had just woken up and was just starting to take in the sight of the morning.

The pink haired medic opened her eyes; her head hurt, and she quickly remembered the events from last night and blushed instantly. She rubbed her eyes silently and sighed softly to herself. Examining the room quietly, Sakura heard something shuffling about in the room and looked around a little more to only be welcomed by a very hot and very wet Kakashi, who only just had put on his boxers, giving Sakura only a split second to see only a small part of his backside.

Her eyes went wide when she noticed Kakashi was not wearing his mask. Unfortunately, Sakura couldn't see his face, but at least she got to see most of the mans ridiculously hot body.

"Good morning," she yawned, stretching her arms out a little and trying to get the mental image out of her head.

"Morning," Kakashi said cheerfully, he too trying to remove a mental image.

Sakura watched Kakashi's muscles flex as he lifted his arms up to put on his shirt. The medic quickly brought a hand to her mouth, having a vague thought that she was drooling, which luckily she wasn't.

Kakashi already had his pants on, and he had just slipped into his undershirt. Sakura watched the way the other Jounin didn't even dare to turn around, just to annoy her that he wasn't wearing his mask.

As soon as Kakashi had put on a clean mask, he turned around, smiling sweetly beneath the fabric, "sorry if I woke you," he said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Sakura sighed as she sat up, inwardly disappointed that Kakashi was fully clothed. She smiled, hiding the slight let-down, "no, you didn't wake me, I was actually awake for a while," she blushed a light shade of pink.

'_Hmm, I wonder why__…_' Kakashi mentally asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at the medic.

He shrugged and hummed something as he exited the room before calling from within the bathroom, "are you hungry at the moment?" Sakura leaned to the side a bit to see Kakashi from the bed, but the door across the hallway to the bathroom was blocking her view.

She suddenly heard something like…oh kami he wasn't! Sakura leaned a bit closer to find Kakashi not moving, except for his head when it leaned back and he sighed in bliss.

He was!

'_He__'__s taking a piss, without closing the door, or having a little privacy at all__…__gross_,' Sakura pulled an ill looking expression. And why did Kakashi have to ask if she was hungry.

'_Well not anymore__…_' she pouted a little, "nah, I'm not very hungry this morning; maybe later," she finally answered back, forcing a creepy smile to form on her features as she stood up to stretch her arms.

Kakashi said nothing more and flushed the toilet, washed his hands and walked out to the front door.

He quickly returned into the bedroom with Sakura's bag that had been left by the door all night after Kakashi practically freaked out. He placed the bag on the floor by the closet and glanced over in Sakura's direction.

The Copy Nin frowned as his memories came back to last night when Sakura wasn't breathing, practically dead in fact. His thoughts raced around to the point when he was so scared of losing Sakura that he had nearly felt tears prick in his eyes.

Sakura looked up at the older Jounin who wasn't moving, and was just staring out into space. She got up, walked past Kakashi, who still hadn't moved, and probably hadn't paid attention to what was happening. Sakura went to her bag on a limp, a little dizzy for a reason she couldn't quite explain and grabbed the towel that was lazily tossed beside her bag and threw it over the man's head, alerting him.

"Welcome back Picasso," she said sarcastically, grinning at the Jounin as he rose an eyebrow as he dried his hair with the towel.

Why did Sakura call Kakashi Picasso? Well, to the medic, Kakashi had an expression that looked a bit unusual for him, and his features seemed a bit out of place for some stupid reason, so Sakura decided on the first thing that came to mind.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and sighed, "I'll leave you alone then," and with that said, the silver haired man shut the door, leaving Sakura alone for a while.

She sighed, '_he finally left_,' she placed her hand over her heart, closed her eyes, wishing her healing chakra was up and running again. A notion came to her attention. She sat down next to her bag without hurting her leg and concentrated some chakra to her hand, but it hurt.

Bracing herself for a bit of pain, Sakura bit her lower lip as she placed her chakra-charged palm on her injured leg and tried to focus that chakra into her leg to mend the injuries internally. She winced at the sharp pain she received and immediately pulled her hand back, holding her breath for a moment.

"Note to self: don't try to heal yourself," she whispered to herself in a heavy sigh.

Ignoring her attempt, Sakura got up steadily and quickly changed out of the clothes she borrowed from Kakashi and jumped straight into her own ones. She breathed in her own scent she knew so well from her own clothes and was happy to be in something that actually fit her.

She absentmindedly tossed the clothes she had just taken off into her bag, temporarily forgetting they weren't hers to begin with, and she left the room with the crutches.

* * *

Kakashi sat lazily on the couch, happily munching away on some cheese toasties and sipping his coffee while reading some good old Icha Icha Paradise. he heard the crutches near the living room and quickly placed his cup of coffee on the table and pulled up his mask, chewing the last bits of his toast.

Sakura walked in and knew she missed out on something when Kakashi was sitting there on his own and instantly assumed it was witnessing the man's damn face. For years and years being Kakashi's student, Sakura had always thought about what he hid underneath that dark fabric.

"So are you feeling any better?" Kakashi asked, turning a page of his book and didn't bother taking his eyes off his novel.

"Does it look like I'm feeling any better?" Sakura spat back a little harshly, but meant it as sarcasm.

The lazy Jounin met the medic's gaze and rose an eyebrow, "yeah," he said simply, "in fact, you look healthy enough to go out into the big bad world again," his mismatched eyes creased to what Sakura assumed was his smile and only gave him a warning glare.

"Sit," Kakashi ordered, pointing to a space beside him on the couch while his eyes were glued to his book again.

The injured Kunoichi eyed the man on the couch momentarily before shrugging her shoulders and slowly making her way to the couch, taking a seat next to her former sensei.

There was a brief moment of silence; Sakura was staring at her feet, and then her gaze wondered upward to her injury. It was badly bruised by what she could tell from her view, but that was nothing new to her. She gently pulled her legs up onto the couch and eased her position so she was sitting cross-legged.

After placing the crutches neatly beside the sofa and out of harm's way, Sakura leaned closer to take a closer look at that nasty bruise on her calf muscle. She frowned before her own hands caught her attention.

'_Maybe just one more try_,' she thought to herself, biting her lower lip anxiously.

Kakashi noticed the uneasy look out of the corner of his good eye and creased a brow, "is your leg bothering you again?" he asked, lowering his book to examine the situation.

Sakura glanced up at him, not quite sure on what to say, but Kakashi instantly knew what she wanted to try, "I don't think you should do that Sakura-chan," warned the man prudently, nodding his head to the medic's hands when she was about to focus chakra there.

"But I gotta try, just once," Sakura seemed urgent, and almost desperate.

Kakashi couldn't understand why Sakura wanted to heal herself so soon; her body hadn't mended the chakra signals yet. But he couldn't blame her for not trying; she was stubborn, and maybe she just wanted to quicken the process so she wouldn't be such a burden. Either that, or Sakura just wanted to get out of Kakashi's house and get away from him.

He sighed in near defeat, giving the pink haired Kunoichi a thoughtful glance, looking from her injured leg, to her pleading eyes.

He sighed again, "are you sure you want to try _now_?" he asked, trying to get it into Sakura's head that it was most likely a bit too early to try, but he had heard that the Kunoichi's natural healing abilities were quicker than most other people in the village, so he should give her a chance.

"Yes," Sakura replied, getting a little annoyed with the whole idea.

"Then I guess you can give it a go, but I wouldn't count on it that you can use your chakra just yet," he warned the young woman and set his book on the coffee table in front of them to pay full attention to her.

Sakura nodded and soon focused her chakra to her hands, in hopes of not inflicting damage to herself in the process. She gulped slightly, "here we go," she muttered as her hands made a position over the injury, '_again__…_' she added as a mental after statement.

Taking a soothing breath, Sakura tried to send small amounts of her chakra into her leg, just to get the feel of it, but winced a little, '_damn, not enough_,' she cursed inwardly, trying hard not to show Kakashi she was in pain.

Kakashi did nothing, he knew Sakura was in pain, but not enough to cause serious problems. He sat there, watching intently as Sakura's facials changed within every ounce of chakra she forced there.

Unfortunately she couldn't feel the chakra do any of its work, so she concentrated more into that area. She was starting to feel the pain heavily now, and she didn't know how long it would take before she would be on the verge of passing out from pain. She pushed those nasty thoughts aside for the moment and focused on the task at hand.

'_Nothing__'__s working; it only hurts the more I use my chakra_,' she cursed again, closing her eyes to see the damage, but her chakra couldn't push through, as though there was an anti-chakra barrier preventing any way of chakra to pass through into the body from another point.

She felt her head start to pound as the pain only increased in force. She held her eyes closed tightly as she tried forcing as much chakra into her leg as possible.

Kakashi was starting to worry when he sensed Sakura's chakra signal fading a little and was starting to consider stopping her, but watched a few seconds more.

'_Just one__…__more__…__try__…_' she clenched her teeth when her heart began to ache from overusing her chakra.

That was the time when Sakura felt it.

It wasn't the chakra finally taking effect, or her legs disintegrating from the amount of chakra, but something much more unexpected. The feeling of a metallic-tasting substance forming in her mouth and the awareness of something wet running down the side of her mouth.

She opened her eyes and glanced down at her now slightly trembling hands to find small droplets of blood dripping onto her left hand. Squinting her eyes for one last push, Sakura felt firm hands grasp her upper arms, quickly pulling her from her concentration.

"That's enough Sakura-chan!" Kakashi snapped at her, glaring at her fatigued form as her muscles went limp in contact with something else and her head hung forward, blood still running down the side of her mouth.

The Copy Nin was starting to worry again, taking for granted that Sakura's heart had stopped again. He had heard of several people whose hearts had stopped in certain conditions, but all were revived safely with the medical specialists in Konoha. But Kakashi knew Sakura was too stubborn to let something like this stop her, and because he had helped her on that very occasion the night previous.

Kakashi pulled her closer to him to feel her heartbeat and pulse, and felt everything was going fine, just the fast pulse, but that was only because of her strains and efforts to get something going in her system.

He could feel Sakura tremble against him, probably because of the sudden fatigue, "you tried this too soon Sakura-chan; you need to wait a little longer," he reminded her. His voice wasn't harsh or threatening, it was only in a hard tone because he only worried for his former student.

Sakura's stained hands reached up and clutched at the man's baggy shirt as she soon fell into tears. She hated being so weak, but she could live with that. But she couldn't stand not getting something to go the right way, and to only make things worse for her and others; it made her feel terrible.

Kakashi rested his arms around the young Kunoichi who lay against him, crying away from both pain and frustration. She just couldn't help it, but the Copy Nin completely understood what she was going through, and just let her where she was in his arms and didn't bother bringing her to bed so she could rest, and just sat there on the couch.

He leaned back a bit, making sure the medic wouldn't fall from his embrace, which she wasn't going to anyway because of her tight grip, and relaxed himself as he reached over to the coffee table and grabbed the napkin he was going to use after eating his food and gently wiped away the blood on the girl's face and hands, as well as trying to clean off the blood on his shirt.

Blood was never an issue with Kakashi, but if it involved Sakura, then he'd be worrying. Ever since the team first started, the Copy Nin had a bit of a soft spot for his only female student.

He tossed the blooded cloth elsewhere and cradled Sakura in his arms as she quickly fell into a dreamless sleep. Kakashi had nothing to do, or could do in fact, other than hold onto Sakura until she was in a deep sleep so he could take her to bed, or woke up later on. So he sunk lower on the sofa so he was in a lying position and closed his eyes to take a long nap.

* * *

A long nap turned into an even longer nap after a while, but Kakashi didn't mind; all he had to do for his mission was take care of an injured medic in his own home, and sleeping was one of the most commonly used medicines for the job.

The loud crack of thunder pulled Kakashi from his dreams, and felt his eyes grow heavy already. He was having such a nice dream too, but he felt the need to be awake now that the storm had kicked in. Not only that, but the afternoon had long kicked in and day was falling.

'_Aww man_,' he sighed softly, making sure not to wake Sakura, and closed his eyes to think.

He opened his eyes to look down at the medic in his arms, who had shifted slightly and had her head buried in his right arm. The man smiled softly at her; she looked so cute when she slept.

Not a moment later, Sakura too had opened her eyes after another strike of thunder. The medic had jumped a little bit from the sudden booming sound and felt the vibrating chuckle from Kakashi.

She shuffled a little to catch a glimpse of the man's expression, but only winced at the feeling of all her muscles screaming as though they were on fire. She groaned a little, having already lifted her aching head to see Kakashi raise a silver brow in vague concern, and she promptly dropped her head back down on the man's chest, probably not yet noticed that she was lying on top of him.

"Are you alright, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi wondered, cocking his head to the side lazily.

The pink haired medic slowly rose her head to meet his gaze and gave a tired smile, "I guess I should've listened to you before," her smile faltered when she closed her eyes and felt the pain in her muscles pounding heavily at every movement she made.

Kakashi sighed, "well, you are a bit stubborn, so I don't blame you for not trying," he beamed down at the Kunoichi, who lifted her head and pouted, hating the fact that she was stubborn, but it couldn't be helped; it only made her a better medic.

She frowned, shifting her gaze down at the man's chest, worrying that she only extended the mission by trying to heal herself when her chakra signals were damaged. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted when Kakashi placed his finger on the medic's chin so she could meet his gaze. He scanned her face, watching the way Sakura reacted only faintly to his touch.

The silver haired Jounin lifted his other arm to Sakura's face and staring at her lips. At the time, Sakura had no idea what Kakashi was up to, and immediately assumed the worst, but in a way, the medic was thankful when the other Jounin pressed his thumb just below her lips and running it along to remove some of the blood that had stained her face before she passed out.

"You had a smudge of blood there," he pointed out reassuringly with a grin.

Sakura blushed a little and pulled her arm up to rub her cheek. The Copy Nin chuckled at the sight of the pink haired Kunoichi blushing at something so minor. Sakura quickly turned away from him briefly to remove the dried blood from her chin, licking her thumb to wipe it away.

Kakashi's gaze was automatically drawn to the young woman's mouth, and for some reason, he couldn't remove his stare from her while she licked her lower lip to get rid of the metallic taste of blood from her lips.

_Mental slap!_

Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment to regain his self-control of his emotions. When he opened his eyes, he found Sakura staring at him, raising an eyebrow to why the man had his eyes closed to begin with.

"Are you muscles feeling any better?" the Copy Nin asked, changing the subject quickly.

Sakura smirked cheekily at the man, "I don't know, why don't you ask them," she replied sarcastically and tried to move her uninjured leg and froze instantly, her eye twitching for no reason at all.

The silver haired Jounin drew just a tiny bit closer to see her pained expression, "…you okay?" he asked with a risen eyebrow.

Sakura rested her forehead against the man's chest and tightened her grip on the Jounin's shirt and mumbled, "…gah…leg cramp…" she was as stiff as a board and was trying to endure moving altogether as well as handle the damn pain.

Kakashi sat up slowly, holding onto Sakura so she wouldn't fall and nudged her to turn around. She did…eventually, but the cramp was still at work. Kakashi and Sakura were now sitting up, with the medic leaning back against the older Jounin, closing her eyes tightly and bit her lower lip to hold back a indignant groan.

The silver haired man leaned forward, wrapping his left arm around Sakura's waist to keep her from falling forward, and using his other free hand, Kakashi began to gently massage the medic's muscle-cramped leg to ease the muscle tension there.

Slowly but surely the tension began to die down and so did the pain. Sakura watched as Kakashi's hand worked in such ease to relieve the pain in her leg. She closed her eyes and felt her body relax completely, as well as enjoying the feeling of Kakashi's warm hand on her bare leg.

Kakashi could feel Sakura sigh and relax herself against him, feeling more and more comfortable as the pain went away, "better?" he just had to ask.

"Much better…" sighed the medic with a small smile on her features.

Even though the pain had probably been long gone by now, it didn't stop Kakashi from carrying on. He didn't know why he didn't just stop when it was necessary and just kept going, watching Sakura's reaction when he positioned his hand elsewhere on her calf muscle. As a natural reaction, the Kunoichi let her head rest back on the older Jounin's shoulder and unintentionally let out a soft moan.

Kakashi had clearly heard the woman's moan and only grinned when she did, "enjoying yourself?" he asked simply. Sakura blushed a little at the question but glanced at him briefly.

"Yeah…my leg feels loads better," she replied almost right away.

She smiled softly and closed her eyes, "it looks like you could use a proper massage," Kakashi said, leaning his head forward a little to catch Sakura's facial expression. She tensed up a little and blushed a dark shade of red, but answered nonetheless.

"Well, I've been so busy at the hospital that I never got the chance to relax, or visit the hot springs,"

"So how about I give you a full body massage tomorrow?" Kakashi suggested, sounding as though he had asked that so many times before.

Sakura smiled, "yeah, I'd like that," she physically noticed she wasn't blushing at that, only because she needed a good massage.

One thing Sakura wasn't exactly looking forward to was that she had to be topless in order for Kakashi to give her a proper back massage, but she guessed she would just have to live with it. She needed to loosen the knots in most of her muscles, so she pretty much had no other option.

Kakashi was about to lean move his hand away from the medic's leg, but his eyes were caught onto a scar a little higher up on Sakura's leg. He paused before running his fingers upward, making the Kunoichi tense up a little at the touch.

He let the pads of his fingertips run over the scar. It was a recent, and it looked like a nasty injury Sakura must've had too. The pink haired Jounin frowned; he was onto her now, and she didn't really want to discuss it with him.

"What happened here?" Kakashi asked, tracing the scar with his thumb.

The scar looked like a deep cut, trailing along the side of the woman's leg, past the knee and half way up along her thigh.

Sakura sighed deeply, "I guess I could tell you what happened…" Sakura trailed off, not too sure on where to start with this. She decided starting from the beginning would help, "in the apartment block I live in, I have a neighbour who lives right next-door to me, and he's a bit crazy," that started it, now Sakura had to carry on so she could finish.

"Did he hurt you?" Kakashi pressed, deep concern present in his voice.

Sakura didn't answer his question, and continued, "he had a girlfriend living with him; they seemed happy from what I could tell, and often he would visit me for help about relationships," Sakura was frowning a little, her mind racing through the memories.

"I didn't know anything about relationships, but I always tried to help him, and told him everything I knew, or assumed in a relationship. He was happy about the advice and went back to trying his best to hold onto the love of his life, but something happened, that changed him…"

Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows to where this was leading to, and remained silent throughout the remainder of the story, "one night, when he came home from the bar, he was really drunk and entered my apartment. I instantly knew he was drunk when he tried to kiss me, and of course I fought back, with a bit of difficulty. He's a tall person, and relatively strong, so it took me a while to get away from him." Sakura sighed, lifting an arm to the sleeve of her shirt and pulled it up to show Kakashi faded bruises that looked like someone had grabbed her viciously and squeezed really tight.

Kakashi had seen these bruises before, but never decided on a time to ask her about it, "he then grabbed me really tight, and wouldn't let me go, and when I tried to get away from him the second time, he only gripped harder and jerked me around, trying to get me to the bedroom. I tried telling him that I wasn't his girlfriend, but he knew I wasn't, and tried to take advantage of me anyway."

"He attempted to kiss me again, but he never got the chance. Whenever he tried, I used my knee to push him away, but that didn't move his hands from my arms. He then started getting really angry after letting me go, and began throwing things, trying to hurt me and frighten me."

Sakura could feel Kakashi get angry just hearing how the medic was harassed like that, and treated like a pick-up-and-go girl. He sighed deeply, having sympathy for her, and mentally cursing the man who tried to hurt his Sakura. Wait…_his _Sakura?

The medic frowned again, "he grabbed a kunai that sat on my table in case I needed it in an emergency and threatened to cut me with it. He hit me twice before I fell to the floor with a bleeding nose," she paused, feeling the man's tense reaction against her, "as soon as I regained some balance, I saw him lunge at me with the kunai. When I realised he was aiming for my heart, I tried rolling away, but he got me in the leg."

Sakura stopped, feeling as though this was where the story ended, but she could sense Kakashi wanting to know what happened after that, "after he stabbed me with the kunai knife, he just froze and began to freak out, only just catching on to what he was doing to me. I didn't care. I got up with the kunai still stuck in my leg and gave him a punch in the face that he never forgot," Sakura smirked, feeling a little proud with herself for being able to defend herself in many situations, though getting a bit of the damage in the process.

"After that, his girlfriend walked in, hearing all the commotion and instantly knew what had happened. She understood completely that he was the one who tried to go on me. The next day, she left him, and he was in hospital with a broken jaw and nose," now she stopped; being pretty much the end of the story.

Kakashi sighed once more, feeling guilty for not hearing or being able to help sooner. But he felt incredibly angry with both the man who hurt Sakura and himself for some reason.

Sakura leaned back, feeling a bit tired still and could feel Kakashi's heartbeat going a bit fast to what she could tell, but shrugged it off with a long yawn.

There was a moment of silence afterwards; Kakashi hadn't moved yet, and Sakura was just resting against him, wondering why he was so quiet.

Then the older Jounin spoke, "are you able to move your muscles yet?" he was back to his normal, lazy and casual self. Sakura shifted in her position a little, trying to move her legs a bit, but held back a wince from the pain in her left leg.

"Unfortunately, no, and I can't feel that much of my chakra coming back either," she sighed, leaning back again.

"I can't sense your chakra signals all that well either. Are you feeling tired?"

"Yeah, probably from the lack of chakra."

Kakashi sat there, deep in thought for a moment before leaning back, allowing Sakura to lie on top of him again. For some stupid reason, he too was a bit tired, but sleep should do the trick, especially for Sakura.

The pink haired medic rolled over so she was lying on her stomach on Kakashi, and in a slightly more comfortable position. Glancing up, Sakura saw the other Jounin had already gone to sleep, so she guessed she too should get some rest. Closing her eyes, Sakura fell asleep, dreaming of her happy place.

* * *

**Author's notes**: lazy much? Yeah, I have a feeling Sakura is probably a very lazy girl in this story, but she's injured wo who could blame her. I personally found the first part when Kakashi was cursing himself for thinking about Sakura in naughty ways and I just had to add major turn-off things for him to say. I mentally pictured Gai doing the "Nice Guy" pose naked with his cheesy grin, and I just shuddered at the thought...eeewwhhw, creeped me out, but it was all good. I'll get the next chappy up as soon as I get some feedback - feedbacks and reviews make me happy to realise that people actually read my work...so I think you get where this is going :P.

Sakura: yep, I'm sure we all do

Kakashi: ahem...

Sakura: what...?

Kakashi: my book?...please

Sakura: sorry Kakashi, but I think I'll keep this for now (opens book)

Kakashi: I don't think you should read that

Sakura: I'll be the judge of that (reads first page)

Kakashi: ...

Sakura: (blushes and closes book quickly) okay I'm done, you can have it back now (hands book back)

Kakashi: thought you would (chuckles)

Sakura: anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter

Kakash: now reviews please


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's notes**: Hey guys, I'm back and I'm black...nah jokes, I'm not black, and I'm not racist either. Anyway, I really wanna thank you guys for giving me so many positive reviews, I love you for it XD. This story is getting so good I reckon, and it's going to get even better as the chapters go :D.

Sakura: yay, more chapters to come :D

Kakashi: yay, but does that mean this story is going to be really long?

Sakura: I don't know, maybe you should just ask

Kakashi: well is it?

Yan: I´m guessing it's gonna be somewhere along the lines of...fifteen chapters I suppose...

Kakash: great, that's cool, not too long or not too short

Sakura: Yeah, now where was I...oh yeah, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

CHAPTER SIX: GOOD MEDICINE

Sakura sat on the couch anxiously and for no reason at all. It was still raining, which made the medic feel a little down in the dumps. It was long past noon, and Kakashi had promised the Kunoichi a full body massage, which she was both looking forward to and nervous about.

Kakashi was out at the supermarket, resupplying on food, drinks and extras, so Sakura was alone in the man's home, having nothing to do; no TV, no power, and not much light due to the dark clouds obscuring the sun's light.

Sakura had heard on the radio this morning that the weather was supposed to clear next Thursday, which still quite a while away. She had wondered what the village must look like if it had been raining for this long. Tsunade told Sakura a while back before the rain really kicked in that Konoha had a great drainage system through the village, so this much rain should be drained from the village and elsewhere, usually into large rivers and lakes.

It had been an hour since Kakashi had left, and he did say he would be back in a half hour, but Sakura guessed the rain would hold him back for a while. Since Kakashi would most likely be late also, Sakura figured it'd be nice to have a decent and long shower to wash the stress away.

She made her way to the bathroom, quickly grabbing a set of clean clothes from her bag on the way and shut the door, started the shower, and stripped from her clothes.

As soon as the temperature was right, Sakura stood under the shower, sighing happily as she ran her hands through her pink hair, and grabbed her favourite shampoo that she got to take with her when she was at her place the other day.

The warm water poured down her back, soothing the majority of her nerves, and taking her time, scrubbed the shampoo into her hair, deeply soaping her scalp. Dipping her head under the shower again, Sakura rinsed out the shampoo, letting the soapy substance run down the length of her body.

After washing her body with her strawberry and vanilla scented body wash, Sakura fell into thought, unable to take her mind from yesterday and the day before. Every since Kakashi was given the mission to take care of her, he was really taking the whole thing seriously.

She sighed, perhaps once Sakura is better again, things will go back to the way they used to as if it never happened. Before this happened, Sakura barely saw much of the man, only passing him in the streets of Konoha occasionally, and sometimes having lunch with Naruto when there was time for it. Now though, Kakashi is treating Sakura like she's about to die, only not so desperate.

Sakura hadn't heard the door slam from the entrance of the house, and she hadn't heard the loud humming tunes from the kitchen. The pink haired medic turned the shower off, and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around her slim form and grabbing another to dry off her hair.

Right at that point, Kakashi had opened the door to the bathroom to grab a towel for himself, because he was soaking wet from the rain, but stopped when he caught a glimpse of Sakura clad only in a fluffy white towel that looked like it was about to fall off.

Sakura jumped in surprised when she noticed he came in and blushed furiously, "sorry!" Kakashi exclaimed, raising an arm to avert his gaze so he could only see the medic's bright red face.

The pink haired Kunoichi smiled reassuringly and realised Kakashi had water dripping from his silver hair. Without question, Sakura grabbed a dry towel and handed it to him. Kakashi gladly took it and exited the bathroom, "I'll just give you some privacy then," he chuckled nervously and shut the door on his way out.

Sakura sighed in relief, '_lucky he didn__'__t walk in any sooner, or that would__'__ve ended badly__…_' she slumped against the wall next to the mirror,

'_Who said it would__'__ve ended badly__…__?_' Inner Sakura asked, a devilish grin ever present on her face.

'_Not now, you!_' Sakura mentally spat back, furrowing her eyebrows in frustration as she started to dry off and get dressed.

Inner Sakura crossed her arms childishly, '_just because you fantasise about Kakashi in a naughty way_,' she mentioned, grinning slyly.

Sakura's ears perked up, '_I do _not_!_' she spat back at her Inner self, trying to ignore her smart remarks, but they kept coming back tenfold.

'_Yes you do, and you know it. How do you think I know? Why do you think we__'__re having this conversation in the first place?_' Inner Sakura's questions wormed her way through Sakura's other thoughts, corrupting her a little in the process.

'_Not anymore, bye,_' Sakura thought back in annoyance with her Inner self.

Inner Sakura sighed, '_fine, but you don__'__t know what you__'__re missing_,' she muttered and finally left Sakura's normal thoughts alone for a while.

After five minutes of thinking, Sakura was dressed, clean and satisfied with her clean self and left the bathroom. Walking into Kakashi's room, she found him shirtless and drying his silver mop.

Kakashi looked over; his mask was still on, but it was a clean one, "sorry for walking in on you before, I didn't think you'd be in the shower when I got back," he chuckled sheepishly as he put on a clean sleeveless, skin-tight undershirt.

"That's okay, at least I had something on when you came in," Sakura flushed a light shade of pink as she neatly placed her clothes into her bag.

"True…" Kakashi shrugged, stretching his arms out a bit.

Placing a finger on his chin thoughtfully, Kakashi stepped over to Sakura and turned her around so she had his back facing him. As if testing something, Kakashi pressed his finger on the medic's back, just beside her left shoulder blade. Sakura immediately had her back straight and felt her left arm tingle with an odd sensation.

Kakashi then placed his finger along the base of Sakura's neck at the back and noticed how she was reacting in a different way whenever he touched her, "how does that feel?" he asked casually.

"Feels nice," Sakura deadpanned, leaning her head back a bit.

Kakashi grinned, "lie down on your stomach over there and I'll be right back," he pointed to the bed and left the room, but quickly popped his head back in and said, "and take your shirt and bra off too, otherwise it won't be a proper body massage," he added promptly and took off to the bathroom.

Sakura blushed and her breath hitched in her throat, '_pardon__…__? Take my shirt _and _bra off? What on earth is he thinking?_' she thought under a groan as she slowly limped her way to the bed.

'_Holy crap man, Kakashi wants you to strip!_' Inner Sakura interrupted with a cheeky smile.

Sakura ignored the voice in her head and complied to what Kakashi asked of her. With little ease, Sakura pulled off her shirt and lay down on her stomach with her bra still on; not willing to remove her bra anytime soon.

Just in time, Kakashi walked in with a bottle of body lotion and three small towels.

He set the supplies down on the bedside table and glanced at Sakura, "lose the bra; it'll get in the way," he said plainly, making Sakura huff into the pillow and groan again in anxiety.

With another sigh, Sakura glanced up at Kakashi, trying not to show the man the front side of her body and pouted. The silver haired man rolled his eyes and held a towel over the medic's upper body so she had some privacy.

As soon as Sakura had stuffed the bra under the pillow she hid her breasts against the bed and was blushing madly, "are we ready to begin?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly as he sat down next to Sakura with the bottle of body lotion. He almost sounded like a damn yoga instructor.

Sakura's blush only deepened and grumbled nervously, "yes," and with that said, Kakashi put some of the liquid onto his bare hand and rubbed it together with his other hand.

The pink haired medic was asked to lie on the towel in case she needed to turn over onto her back and she could have the towel covering her bust. So she lay there on a towel with her arms crossed under her head as she waited for Kakashi to start massaging.

Sakura felt two large hands on the base of her neck, lubricated in the oils and immediately flushed a deeper shade of crimson. She felt Kakashi's thumbs roll over her muscles, rubbing the oil into her pale skin, while his other fingers massaged the muscles on either side of the neck.

At an instant, Sakura sighed and was completely relaxed, temporarily forgetting she was topless and had Kakashi rub body lotion into her body. It felt so good, and Sakura couldn't help but smile contently at the sensation.

"Wow…" she sighed slash moaned slash whispered.

Kakashi grinned, "I learned about the pressure points of the body and how they work. And being a busy Shinobi always meant stress and aching muscles, so in my spare time I taught myself about proper, full body massaging," he explained, answering the unasked question Sakura had on her mind for a while.

Sakura nodded slowly, trying to enjoy the rhythm of Kakashi's movements, moaning a few times whenever Kakashi hit a sensitive spot on her back. The silver haired Jounin had moved from Sakura's neck, to her shoulders and then down to her shoulder blades, soon going further south.

The Copy Nin was starting to find it a little difficult to massage on an odd angle, so he got up on the bed, straddling Sakura on the back of the woman's thighs. Sakura felt the weight press against the back of her thighs and held her breath for a moment.

Kakashi placed his hands on the small of her back and shifted forward, making Sakura blush ten times more than before if that was possible. Her face looked like a burning hot tomato.

Having gotten over the fact that Kakashi was practically making thrusting movements against her thighs, Sakura relaxed again when Kakashi resumed massaging.

The Copy Nin traced the edge of her shoulder blades, barely touching her with his thumb and made Sakura whimper slightly at the absence of his hands on her back. Kakashi chuckled lightly as he pressed his palms firmly over each shoulder blade.

His hands worked wonders on Sakura's back, but she had to keep in mind that soon Kakashi would be going even lower, having been told a few times that it was a _full body _massage, not just a back rub.

Kakashi stopped for a moment, gently running his fingers down the medic's back, feeling her shiver a little at his touch, "I saw Genma at the store today," he mentioned, grabbing the body lotion and applied more of the oils on Sakura's back.

"Hmm…really?" Sakura wondered in between a soft moan.

"Yeah, he broke his wrist the other day and was wondering where you were," Kakashi's monotone voice made it clear to Sakura he didn't really care about what went on with Genma.

Sakura propped her elbows under her as she slowly rose, while holding the towel against her breasts, "why was he wondering where I was?" she just had to ask, and she wanted an answer.

Kakashi shrugged, "not sure, but I told him you were sick in the hospital and no one was allowed to visit you until you got better," he said nonchalantly as he tried to push Sakura back down so he could carry on.

The medic lay back down, still in thought about why Genma would want to know where she was hiding, but she had to guess it had to do with him asking her out on a date as usual, which she always turned down.

With a sigh, she relaxed herself again, enjoying the feeling of Kakashi's hands working their way around on her back. She moaned again when the Copy Nin hit a sensitive spot on her lower back.

Kakashi kneaded his palm over the muscles by the waist, rubbing the lotion into her skin. He paused again, reapplying body lotion onto his hands and made a single handsign. Sakura lifted an eyebrow, wondering why Kakashi stopped all of a sudden, but her breath caught in her through when she felt a tingling feeling run down her spine.

She groaned, "holy shit…" she moaned, tensing a little.

Kakashi smiled, "does that feel good?" he asked, leaning forward a bit to see the expression on the Kunoichi's face, "hell yeah…" she mumbled back under another moan.

"How do you do that?" Sakura asked, a little surprised at the amount of sensation she felt only moments ago.

"Chakra," he said simply, "I focused a little bit of my chakra to my fingers and ran it down your spine."

Sakura was baffled. She never expected Kakashi to use chakra in this sort of deal, but she enjoyed every second of it, and could only sigh in bliss. The Copy Nin thought it would be a good idea to use some of his chakra throughout the rest of the massage, so he directed a little more of his chakra to his fingertips and resumed his wondrous work.

The medic's skin was starting to feel so sensitive whenever the man touched her with chakra charged fingers. Kakashi couldn't help but grin whenever she moaned, and soon he was working mostly on the lower back, where she was most sensitive.

"Ahaha…that tickles," Sakura squirmed under the man's touch, whilst trying not to show him her breasts in the process.

Kakashi laughed at her movements, but soon got off so he could now work on her legs. He knew Sakura's legs had to be treated carefully because of the sore muscles and the injured left leg.

"If I hurt you, let me know," he reminded as he put some of the body lotion onto his hands.

Sakura shrugged, completely content and comfortable in her current state, thinking this was probably the best treatment she ever got in her life, especially from a male counterpart.

* * *

The massaging went on for about another half hour, and Kakashi took extra care when working with Sakura's bruised and injured leg. A few times in the area, the medic jerked her leg from his hand a bit whenever it hurt, and Kakashi would always be sincere and apologise countless times.

Kakashi had long since done the medic's arms and was now actually done. He had even given the woman a scalp massage for no reason at all. It wasn't really necessary, but Sakura enjoyed it nonetheless.

The silver haired Jounin gave Sakura some privacy to get her bra and shirt back on, and was inside again once the medic gave him a call, "so were my massaging skills terrible?" Kakashi asked, sarcasm very present in his voice.

"No way man, I thought it was the best massage I've ever had in my life…the only one in fact," Sakura frowned, having just admitted this massage was her first ever.

Kakashi rose an eyebrow, "really? You've never been given a full body massage before?" he asked, drying his hands off on a towel and sat down next to the medic.

Sakura nodded, a little ashamed at first, "it's just that I've been so busy working at the hospital that I never considered settling down with the man of my dreams, or go to the hot springs for a relaxing day out," she sighed, slumping forward and resting her head on her hands.

Kakashi frowned a little. He had known Sakura for so long, and he always imagined her to have a dozen men chasing her whenever she stepped out of the hospital from work.

Sakura and Kakashi had gotten exceptionally close over the past two years when Naruto took off to search for Sasuke again, but when he returned, Sakura started working double shifts more, and was rarely seen.

She would be so exhausted from work that she'd excuse herself straight home and no one would hear from her for a day or so. So Sakura's social life had pretty much been flushed down the tube. Kakashi had really bad social skills, but he was able to manage with that for the majority of his life, only because no one ever taught him about having plenty of friends to spend time with, and that his missions were his number two priority. Number one was the safety of his comrades and others close to him.

For the greater part of his life, Kakashi was pretty bad at talking with friends, and often kept the conversation short and never showed a single emotion. So he was pretty much a walking zombie, bearing no emotion whatsoever. But ever since he became the full-time sensei of Team 7, he had slowly started to let his emotions slip from his grasp. As the years passed, his own students were able to see more of his emotions and tell what his expressions meant, even through his mask.

Kakashi sighed to himself; his students had really grown to be fine ninjas, and he remembered saying to Naruto and Sakura after the last of the two graduated to Jounin, that he'd still be around to help them out if they ever needed it, even if it was to do with social life, Kakashi would give it a shot.

"Maybe, you should ask for a day off if work stresses you so much, and go spend time with your friends, or spend the day at the hot springs," he suggested thoughtfully.

Sakura glanced at him, "hmm, maybe I should," she smiled softly at the man, "I guess I'm overworking, and sometimes forget why I'm working in the first place," she added, scratching the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Lie down," Kakashi gave the medic a quick nudge to lie down on her back.

Sakura said nothing, and listened to the man's words. Kakashi shuffled closer to the Kunoichi and grabbed her right leg, lifting it slowly, "so why do you work then?" he asked, stretching Sakura's leg out.

The medic just lay there, letting the man stretch out her muscles for her, "I like working at the hospital because I'm a good medic, and the hospital needs me there," she stated plainly.

"And why did you decide to become a medic?" Kakashi pressed on, bending the medic's knee and stretching it out again.

Sakura fell into thought and sighed softly, "because I always felt as though I was the burden in the team, that I only slowed you guys down in battle, so becoming a medic I figured I'd be able to help, rather than seem useless," she trailed off, scowling at her own pity.

"That's not true," Kakashi deadpanned, gently placing her leg down on the bed and reaching for the other one.

Sakura met the man's gaze, "you have always been a valuable asset in our team, no matter what," Kakashi exclaimed, his serious tone noticeably visible on his features.

"Sure you may not have been physically strong back then, but you're smart, confident, and willing," the Copy Nin added firmly, lifting the injured left leg this time, "being a Shinobi isn't all about brute strength and blind force; you have to be strategically skilled on the battlefield to conserve as much energy as you need."

The pink haired medic knew about this, she just never took it to heart. Her gaze lowered to the scar on her thigh, "I understand you training with Tsunade-sama was to improve your strength, and I was really impressed when I saw you in action, but for someone like you, you don't really need it," Kakashi carried on, pausing a moment when Sakura cringed when he stretched the leg too far.

"I always knew that going on missions were dangerous, and possibly terminal, so being a medic nin would reduce the chances of any of us getting killed, and to help everyone last a little longer," Sakura finally said.

Kakashi nodded, fully understanding where this was going, "I just don't want to see my friends get hurt," Sakura added, gazing up at the man with pleading eyes.

The silver haired man sighed, "me too…" he muttered, almost a whisper, and looked out the window. It was still raining cats and dogs, and wondered when the next lightning storm would kick in.

He put that aside for now, and slowly bent the leg, pushing the knee towards Sakura more to stretch the muscles in the upper thigh. He straightened the leg gently and worked on the ankles, but Sakura pulled her legs from his hands and sat up.

"I think I can take it from here," she said, not wanting to be treated like the damn queen.

Kakashi shrugged, "okay then, I'll start making dinner," he said as he left the room in a few strides, leaving Sakura to ponder over his words.

She just sat there motionless at first, allowing the information to settled into her brain before tending to her ankles. She gently pulled back feet as far as they would allow or until one started aching and rolled the joints around and felt the muscle tension die down.

* * *

**Author's notes**: Okay, what did you think about that? Good? Bad? Be honest. Yes it was a little short, only because I never found a good place to end it, and when I did, it was completely off from the chapter name. And another thing, let me know if the chapter names have absolutely nothing to do with what's in it; it's what's in the chapter that counts.

Kakashi: That was...um...interesting

Sakura: Yeah, I thought it was pretty good actually

Kakashi: Personally, I enjoyed the massage scene (grins)

Sakura: That's only because you're a pervert

Kakashi: that's not true

Sakura: ...(rolls eyes)

Kakashi: well, that's the end of chapter six, we'll update soon

Sakura: please be a friend and leave a comment if you want to :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's notes:** Okay, my bad for not updating sooner. I was hoping to do it yesterday, but I was caught up on a few things such as celebrating my second year of my Naruto Anniversary XD. It's been since 29/9/06 that I got hooked on drawing pictures of Naruto and the gang, and it feels great to have something last this long already :D. Anyways, I'll leave it to Kakashi and Sakura, and I'll see you on the other end ;).

Sakura: Wow, that's so cool, second year and still going

Kakashi: It's a bit creepy that she knows the exact date from when she actually got obsessed with this

Sakura: Hey, I think it's pretty awesome that someone is willing to like us this much

Kakashi: I suppose so...(shrugs)

Sakura: ...actually...I think it's only you she likes the most out of any of us

Kakashi: hahaha, poor you

Sakura: nah, poor _you_, you've got yourself another fan (laughs)

Kakashi: aww...oh well...

Sakura: anyway, hope you enjoy chapter seven :)

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN: UNEXPECTED COMPANY

After having stretching her arms out enough, Sakura got up, grabbed her crutches and made her way to the kitchen. Sighing briefly to herself, the medic entered the living room and glanced into the kitchen where Kakashi was washing his hands.

There was a sudden crashing sound, like glass shattering. Sakura's ears perked up and saw that there was a hole in the window. She noticed Kakashi wavering a little and turned around to face her, "uh oh…that's…not good…" he said almost weakly after pulling a dark from the side of his neck and staring at it worriedly.

"Kakashi!" Sakura called, and hobbled over to him to take a closer look at the damage.

After hearing his name, the Copy Nin met the woman's gaze and blinked sleepily before falling forwards. Instantly, Sakura rushed in front of him and allowed the man to fall against her. She quickly forced all the weight on her right leg so she wouldn't hurt herself and held onto Kakashi's shoulders.

As quickly as she could, Sakura limped her way with an almost unconscious Kakashi being dragged along over her small body until she reached the couch, where she gently lay him down to look at the damage.

She found the dart, still in Kakashi's hand and observed the colour of some of the toxins that were still in the tube. It was an anaesthetic drug that numbed the body's muscles before the brain would shut down and the victim would fall asleep for a long time, depending on the dosage.

Sakura remembered using this at one time, and once accidentally pricked herself with it, but never received a full dosage. When she got that, she immediately felt her legs go numb and she collapsed onto the floor. The nurses were freaking out that Sakura had killed herself, but she hadn't of course. Since it wasn't a full dose, Sakura's body was completely numb, but she wasn't asleep, though very drowsy.

The medic cursed herself because Kakashi was now almost out cold, and she had a pretty good idea that someone was nearby, waiting for the man to be completely asleep so they could strike.

"How…long…will this…last…?" Kakashi mumbled quietly; it was barely a whisper but Sakura heard him.

"It was quite a lot, so chances are you might be out for the rest of the night," she said, frowning at herself.

Kakashi groaned sleepily, "sssshit…" he slurred as he tried his best to stay awake.

Sakura was somewhat amazed that Kakashi had stayed awake for this long already, "I'll try and remove some of the toxins from your body, but I'll need to start now," she told him, her nurse tone in action.

Kakashi only smiled weakly, looking like he was a bit drunk in fact, "save me…my fair lady…beautiful…ness…" the silver haired Jounin blurted out randomly, surprising Sakura a little. He smiled again before his head just fell back against the armrest of the couch and he was out for the count.

Sakura rose a brow, "oh-kay…" she gave the man a sceptical stare, but remembered that that particular drug also made the patient giddy and often blurt out things that existed between truth and fantasy.

She shook her head; she had to work quickly, so Sakura hooked her finger on the hem of Kakashi's mask and pulled it up to reveal his neck. She noticed there was a tiny trail of blood from the entrance point of the drug.

She probably couldn't use chakra on other people if it didn't even work on herself, so she regretfully placed her mouth around the small hole on his neck, blushing a little, but shook it off as soon as she began sucking hard on his neck.

Sakura could feel the man's blood fill up her mouth and she could also taste unfamiliar toxins mixed with the blood. She felt like a vampire, and also felt like a bit of a slut because she assumed she was practically kissing someone while they were unconscious, but she told herself several times that this was a medical emergency and dodgy things were included on the 'to do' list.

The medic hopped up and raced into the kitchen and spat out the mouthful of blood, '_ew__…_' Sakura cursed, spitting still to get all the blood out of her mouth, as well as the poison.

She went back with a jug of water and a bowl and sat down next to Kakashi. She promptly repeated the process, sucking out as much of the toxins as she could and spitting it out into the bowl.

The medic ran out of breath and the taste of blood was still in her mouth. She quickly rinsed it out with the water and spat it in the bowl as well. Having no other alternative, Sakura resorted to using her chakra, though doubting very much that it may not work, but she gave it a shot anyway.

Focusing large amounts of her chakra to her hands, with the help of borrowing some of Kakashi's, Sakura searched for the poisons that were currently making their way through the man's bloodstream and slowly pulled it out through the skin without damaging him. Sakura was amazed that her chakra was useable and saw the coloured drug mix with her visible chakra. She disposed of it into the bowl and sighed.

"That should do for now, and maybe he'll wake up earlier," she took a few swigs of water and spilt it in the bowl with everything else and wiped her mouth off with her sleeve.

Her mind now focused on the poisons; she tasted something else other than the blood or the anaesthetic she knew of and hung her head over the bowl, staring at the odd reddish colours and narrowed her eyes in thought.

She extracted some of the liquid drug from the mixture and examined it in detail. She focused a tiny bit of chakra on the substance and sorted out what was what. Simple dose of the actual numbing drug, and there was also…alcohol? Yes, there was alcohol in the poison, probably to speed up the process to knock the man out, which probably also explained the dodgy behaviour and comments coming from him.

The strenuous struggle to help Kakashi get back into the real world was only making it more difficult for Sakura to bare. Soon, whoever did this to him in the first place would show up, and probably come in armed and deadly.

Sakura sighed, wondering when Kakashi would come around again, '_probably not for a while_,' she thought to herself, sitting on the floor next to the unconscious man, and only waited for the time to pass.

The medic had a few kunai knives in hand just in case and never dropped her guard, but she knew she wouldn't be able to last very long considering the lack of chakra as well as strength, not to mention the injured leg. She just wished this didn't happen right now; if it happened long after Sakura was healed up, she'd be ready for a fight, but now, she had no choice.

Ten minutes had passed before a cloud of smoke filled the room and the sound of footsteps shuffling about on the wooden floor near Sakura. She instantly stood up, avoiding the pain as much as she could and held a kunai tight, positioning herself in her fighting stance.

The smoke had quickly cleared and revealed three men, one of which was obviously the leader of the group. The leader was tall, had relatively long blonde hair, tied at the back. He looked scruffy, and perhaps a little unhealthy to say the least, but his expression gave him a slightly intimidating look.

"Well, well, well, looks like the famous Copy Ninja is down for the count already; I guess the rumours about the Lazy Hatake were true," spat the man, laughing loudly as if he wanted the whole world to know.

The other two men laughed silently behind their leader and stopped when he did. Their eyes glanced over at the pink haired Kunoichi standing in front of the knocked out Jounin, glowering at the three with a kunai in hand.

The leader of the group laughed again, "looks like we aren't alone either," he stepped forward, making Sakura stiffen her stance, "back off!" she hissed, raising her kunai to show she meant what she said.

"I don't think so; you see, Hatake owes me something he took from me a long time ago: my pride, and I'd like it back," the man said in a calm tone, trying to be nice as he inched closer to the medic.

Sakura seemed unconvinced, "well unfortunately for you, that's not going to happen," she replied, equally calm in her voice, but showed an attitude that meant trouble.

The leader cocked his head to the side, "in case you didn't know who I am, I am Irunaka Moyo, the toughest gang leader in Suna. Hatake had single-handedly beaten me in a battle, without the use of any chakra whatsoever, and he barely broke a sweat," he was starting to get angry with Sakura that she was stalling his plans.

"Then you Moyo, must've been one hell of a weak gang leader," Sakura mocked back, smirking evilly at the blonde, who only got angrier.

"You'll pay for underestimating the most powerful leader of his village," one of Moyo's thugs raised a fist, defending his leader's honour.

Moyo merely gave the man a quick glare and took a closer step towards Sakura, "you know, you're a beautiful woman, and perhaps if you get out of the way, you won't hurt yourself with that weapon," the blonde seemed to think mocking Sakura would be a good idea, but in fact, it only made the situation worse.

Sakura was starting to fume now; how dare they treat her as if she wasn't a ninja at all. She was Konoha's top medic nin, beside Tsunade of course, and Sakura had a temper too, which helped her a lot in the past when she was in battle.

The tall blonde got serious now, and made a reappearance right behind Sakura, standing a little too close for the medic's comfort, "if you don't get out of my way, there will be no stopping me," he whispered, sending shivers down the Kunoichi's spine. He took in the scent of Sakura's hair, making the medic shudder in disgust.

She quickly reacted by swiping her arm around, but missed. Moyo's thugs got into action as well, so Sakura was surrounded. She glanced around, sensing their chakra and focusing on protecting Kakashi.

"I wouldn't mess with me if I were you," Sakura warned, but only received laughs from the men.

"And why would I listen to you?" Moyo struggled to hold back another laugh, but Sakura had made her move, focusing chakra to her fingertips and jabbing Moyo's thugs on the pressure points at the neck and shoulder blades, and they fell limp to the floor.

She smirked, "because I'm one of the most feared Kunoichi of Konoha, as well as the village's top medic beside the Hokage herself," Moyo's face went blank momentarily, watching his face lose traces of colour, but shook the thoughts from his head.

He didn't care much about his men, and only went for the prize. Sakura jumped in the way, but her injury had gotten the best of her and she stumbled. Moyo paused for a moment, seeing the medic had a current weakness, "looks like we have a standing injury," he said to no one in particular and grinned.

This wasn't good; Sakura wasn't able to fight as good because of her injuries, and Moyo knew about them. She brushed it off and charged at the man again, to only be gripped in a tight headlock by Moyo, "you're too easy," he spat, grinning devilishly at the pink haired Kunoichi.

Sakura growled a little and struggled to break free from his grip, but was only mocked some more, "feisty are we? I like feisty," Moyo then pushed her forward and she fell to the floor, her head hitting the side of the coffee table.

Moyo approached her, and was about to swing a leg at her, but Sakura quickly got up, stabbing the man in the thigh. There was a pained cry from the blonde as Sakura got to her feet, wincing at her sore head and leg, but she brushed it off and held another kunai in her hand.

"You bitch!" Moyo cursed, ripping the knife from his thigh and stepped closer to the woman, the kunai dripping blood.

Sakura felt the pain in her head start to kick in, and her balance was thrown off. She promptly met the hand of the blonde against her face and she fell back, hitting the back of her head on the floor.

She lay there for a moment as she got up on her knees. Moyo decided to end playtime there and grabbed the medic's hair, hoisting her up higher so she was almost hanging by her own hair.

"Sorry little girl, but playtime is over," he said as he held the blooded kunai in his hand and was about to stab her in the neck.

Sakura closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the pain, but when none came, she was puzzled. When she opened her eyes, she found a dazed Kakashi with two kunai knives stabbed straight into Moyo's arm that held Sakura's pink hair.

"You never learn do you?" Kakashi slurred, swaying a bit, but he knew where everything was.

Moyo was gob smacked. How could Kakashi have woken up so soon. Either way, Moyo was pissed off, as well as in a lot of pain. Sakura's hair was freed from the blonde's grip and she fell back, a bit stunned as she watched Moyo back away from the Copy Nin.

The tall blonde man knew he was on a whim, knowing defeat was nigh if he stayed around any longer, "until next time, Hatake," he announced as he yanked the two blades from his arm and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Moyo's two thugs got up, having recovered from the hit and they too disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi sighed, swaying still as he turned around, slumped forward and very tired, but was glad to see Sakura was okay. He sighed again, smiling weakly as he shuffled his feet along the floor and fell to his knees and stared at Sakura.

"Are…you alright?" he asked, shuffling even closer to Sakura as she sat upright and rubbed her head.

She nodded, "yeah, I'm just glad you're okay," she said, smiling in relief. She allowed Kakashi to pull himself right next to the medic and was breathing heavily, most likely from the drugs he was stung with.

He absentmindedly let his head fall and rest on Sakura's shoulder, but she didn't really mind, "I feel like absolute crap," Kakashi mentioned, chuckling uselessly at himself for no reason.

"Come on, I'll remove some more of the poisons from you," Sakura nudged him to get up, and helped him to his feet, but it took a while due to the injury the medic already had and that Kakashi was laughing to himself and barely caring about the fact that he had toxins still in his bloodstream and that Sakura was injured and only trying to help him.

Eventually, the two Jounins made it to the bathroom, with Kakashi falling over a few times, but got his act together and entered the bathroom with Sakura, who was a little irritated that she was hurt and Kakashi was giggling like a retard and not cooperating very much.

"Okay, sit," Sakura ordered the man and limped to get the first aid kit, a towel, and a bowl of water.

Kakashi sat down with a dull thump on the cold floor and sighed again. He was being a little more serious now, "those were a bunch of thugs from Suna," he mentioned. Sakura nodded her head, "yeah I know, they already gave me the introduction," she didn't seem all that interested at the time, and only wanted to help the Copy Nin.

The older Jounin shrugged, he sighed once more as he watched Sakura prepare for a medical examination, "do I have to take my shirt off for this?" asked the man. The pink haired Jounin glanced at him, unsure whether he was being sarcastic or serious.

"No," she shook her head and charged up the little chakra she had left and cursed to herself when she realised she didn't have enough.

Kakashi rose an eyebrow, "here, use mine," he held a hand out for Sakura to take. The medic stared at the hand for a moment, but took it nevertheless.

She soon felt the familiar chakra fill her body, and she focused all the chakra she needed to her hands to start the process. The medic glimpsed at the man who was dozing off if he didn't stay active.

"I'm going to force all the toxins that were injected into you, to where they came from, using my chakra," she explained, getting used to the feel of someone else's chakra in her body, "chances are it might hurt, so I'm sorry if it does happen."

Kakashi nodded tiredly, giving Sakura the signal to start when he was ready. She was about to search for the poison and alcohol, when she remembered to tell him something, "just so you know, I have to suck it out," she reminded Kakashi, whose ears perked up a little, "won't you get effected by it if you do that?" he wondered, raising a silver brow.

"Not really, I'm a medic, and I have methods of avoiding those accidents," she reassured the man, and placed her glowing hand on the man's stomach and closed her eyes.

She concentrated on finding the anaesthetic quickly. She located the main region and trailed her palm upward along Kakashi's chest, and towards his neck, avoiding the heart at all costs. The silver haired man held his breath when he felt Sakura's bare lips on his bare neck and began sucking at the entrance point of the puncture wound.

He could feel Sakura's hand gently run over his chest and to his collarbone. Sakura's other hand was at the back of his neck, keeping his central nervous system in check as she went on with the procedure.

Sakura let go finally and spat a mouthful of blood and anaesthetic into the bowl. She wiped her mouth, rinsing it out to make sure none of the toxins were still present.

After having cleaned out the blood and ridded Kakashi of most of the poisons, Sakura was done. All she had to do now was let the man rest and work the rest of the drug out himself. She made sure she didn't miss anything, concentrating her chakra through the man's body for one last check up and was relieved to see that she was in the clear.

Sakura tipped the blooded anaesthetic out in the sink and returned to Kakashi's side, who was currently wanting to go to sleep, and in the same time, wanting to stay up all night. She checked the puncture where she had been trying to get blood and other substances out. It looked like a bad hickey that Sakura had given him.

She blushed a light shade of pink and placed her hands on the man's chest, checking for just one extra time just in case; you could never be too sure. Sakura was about to sigh again and tell him to go to bed, but she felt Kakashi's hands run up her arms, sending small chills down her spine.

Sakura was about to ask what he was doing, but her mind went completely as soon as she felt Kakashi's masked lips press against hers. Okay…this was new…and awkward. Sakura was shocked to have Kakashi kiss her like that, but she actually didn't really care anyway.

In fact, Sakura enjoyed it, but she had to regain control of herself and pulled herself away from the Copy Nin, "wow…" she uttered, placing her hand on her head as if she felt the room sway.

She glanced at Kakashi, trying not to be tempted to help herself to the man. Sakura noticed something in that kiss; Kakashi was gentle, and even though it was merely through the mask and pretty short, it was passionate at the same time. But Sakura couldn't do this to her former sensei and close friend, especially when said Copy Nin was probably under the influence of alcohol.

Either Kakashi just couldn't handle it easily, or that alcohol was really strong; Sakura decided to go with the latter. The silver haired man grinned devilishly at the medic, looking as innocent as possible, as if he hadn't done a single bad thing to the world in his life.

"Kakashi, are you okay?" Sakura asked, raising a pink brow in concern.

"I'm more than okay," he exclaimed, his grin only widening as he stared at her.

Sakura was starting to get a little creeped out with her former sensei, "come on, you need sleep," she directed as she stood up, assisting the Copy Ninja to his feet.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and grunted in protest, "I don't need sleep," he scoffed, grabbing Sakura's hand and getting to his feet. His longing yawn gave his protest away however, which ticked him off a little.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the man and dragged him along on a limp, "Sakura-chan…" he said softly as he was being led to his room, "why are you limping?" his voice had a hint of worry in it, making the medic stop to face him.

She wasn't in the mood to explain things now; she was tired, and injured, "I hurt myself, remember?" she reminded, raising an eyebrow when Kakashi looked stunned.

The medic sighed, "come on, you need to rest," she told him, pulling on his sleeve. Kakashi didn't move, and only jerked at Sakura's wrist to pull her into him, "I'm sooorrryy!" he said sincerely, cradling Sakura in a tight embrace.

"Kakashi, don't worry about it," she mumbled into his chest, trying to pull herself free from the man so she could breathe again.

Kakashi kept saying sorry over and over, but his voice died down to soft whispers, "I'm an idiot aren't I?" he asked out of the blue. Sakura frowned, having settled in the man's arms for the time being, "no you're not," she denied it, but she knew he was kind of being a bit of a loser because of his behaviour, but everyone was usually like that after having a few drinks.

The Copy Nin was being serious now and held Sakura in front of him, keeping her there with his hands on her shoulders, "I sometimes get a little loony when I'm drunk," he mentioned, smirking sheepishly at Sakura, who only began giggling at him, "I've noticed."

The two Jounins fell into laughter, unable to contain their mirth, and slowly, the two made their way into the bedroom, with Kakashi almost hanging over the Kunoichi's shoulders as she limped closer to the bed.

Sakura was starting to have doubts about getting Kakashi to bed, assuming he might do the worst if she wasn't careful. The silver haired plopped himself on the bed, patting his hand on a spot next to him for Sakura to sit.

The medic decided to put her guard up just in case, and sat down. There was a moment of silence, right until Kakashi glanced at her and then at the pillow on the other side of him, "you should sleep," he suggested innocently.

He got up, having quickly sobered up at this point already, but was still swaying, "lie down," he whined, lazily pointing to the pillow again. Sakura rose a brow, "but you need this bed more than me," she objected, ready to get up and make Kakashi go to bed.

Kakashi grumbled a little, "you're injured, I'm not, and besides, I'm letting you sleep in my bed until you get better…" he almost fell over as he spoke, not quite paying attention. He placed a firm hand on Sakura's waist and spun her around so she was suddenly lying on her back, facing Kakashi.

Sakura froze, only gazing into Kakashi's mismatched eyes. He did nothing, thankfully, but the medic wasn't able to react quick enough when she noticed the man's Sharingan spin lazily, "you bast-" she wasn't able to complete her not-so nice comment and fell into a deep sleep.

At that moment, the Copy Nin let out a long sigh and gave the medic a kiss on the forehead and stood up, "sorry Sakura-chan, but you need it more than I do," he gazed at her a moment more before stumbling his way out of the room, closing the door on his way out.

Kakashi grunted as he rubbing his temple frustratingly and practically dragged himself down the hallway and into the living room, where he was welcomed with a bit of a mess waiting to be cleaned up.

He sighed, not quite ready to fall asleep just yet, and started cleaning up the living room. There were blood spots all over the floor and scrubbing them off was a real hassle. He picked up the kunai knives and tossed them carelessly into the sink and tidied up the place.

After putting the medical pack away under the couch, Kakashi crashed on the sofa, almost missing it completely because of what was still remaining in his bloodstream, but he shrugged it off with another loud yawn and lay down, sighing for a moment as he felt had the strike of guilt after realising all the things he had done.

"I'm such an idiot," he mumbled into his hands as he let his head fall back onto the arm rail.

He also felt guilty because he wasn't really as drunk as Sakura had assumed; he only wanted to help Sakura, but the kiss went a little out of hand. He supposed Sakura wouldn't blame him for doing it because he was drunk, but Kakashi was starting to ridicule the fact that he had practically taken advantage of his former student, and he probably could've gone further if he wanted to, but it just didn't feel right.

Kakashi sighed, having felt the strength of the drug he had gotten, and now he had enemies on his 'to do' list. He wrapped himself in the spare blanket and was out within seconds, falling into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Author's notes**: Lol, hahaha, Kakashi was funny in this chapter :P. He really was being a bit of a loser when he was having a giggle fit while Sakura was trying to help him. So far, this has to be my favourite chapter out of the whole thing, and don't worry, the whole thing with Moyo and his homo buddies (lol) will show up again soon, and I'm sure you would've guessed that as well. I'll try and update as soon as I can. Laters .

Sakura: Man you're such a retard when you're drunk

Kakashi: well _sorry_, that explains why I don't drink alcohol

Sakura: But seriously, you took that little bit like a sissy

Kakashi: hey! That stuff was incredibly strong, so don't blame me for not being able to handle it

Sakura: yeah right, you couldn't take it like a man...

Kakashi: lets just leave it at that okay

Sakura: fine (pouts)

Kakashi: well, hope you liked this chapter :D

Sakura: next one will come up ASAP

Kakashi: please leave a review to leave behind your kindness :P

Sakura: ...(whispers) sissy...

Kakashi: Hey!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's notes:** gomen for not updating so soon; I'm sure you guys are getting annoyed with me not throwing in a chapter any sooner, unless this sort of thing happens with other authors and writers. So anyway, here's chapter eight, this has a bit of ranting in it, so bear with me. I was thinking of starting another fic, about how Kakashi and Gai met, and what Kakashi's life was like back in the ANBU days for him, but you tell me. I was hoping to go for a good humour part for that fic, but tell me what you think and maybe I'll start on that :P.

Sakura: wow, another fic starring you Kakashi

Kakashi: why does that not surprise me...

Sakura: oh I don't know...maybe because...THE AUTHOR FAVOURS YOU _A LOT_

Kakashi: ...nah, that can't be it

Sakura: ...ugh (rolls eyes), anyway, I'm sure it's gonna be funny to hear how you and Gai met

Kakashi: I'm sure it will be

Sakura: so anything you want us to look forward to for that then?

Kakashi: hmmmmmmmm...every challenge Gai and I had, how I got hooked on Icha Icha, and my ANBU days

Sakura: _sweet_, this will be fun

Kakashi: yup, now lets not get carried away from the actual subject at hand here

Sakura: right, chapter eight, enjoy ;D

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHT: A MOMENT OF FREEDOM FEELINGS

A week had passed and it was Sunday afternoon, which meant it was four more days to go before the rain was finally going to clear and the village would finally be active again.

Sakura was still in a bit of discomfort but her leg was finally healing considerably. Ever since Moyo and his thugs had decided to make their move, Kakashi hadn't let his guard down even once, so the pink haired medic felt very protected.

Throughout that week, Sakura had decided to rest as much as possible and barely do a thing, though feeling sorry for Kakashi that he was forced to do everything for her. The only time the Kunoichi ever got up to walk around, was when she had to use the toilet, take a shower, or go to bed, that was pretty much all she did. But that didn't mean Sakura enjoyed lounging around everyday. In fact, it was something she didn't _want_ to do. Sakura was more the type to do something and stay active for ages, which explained why she was constantly working double shifts at the hospital.

Nothing new had happened during those days, just Sakura waking up every morning with Kakashi on her mind, inwardly admitting she just had a dodgy dream about him. But who said she never liked it? As a matter of fact, Sakura practically daydreamed about the older Jounin, her mind going back to the dreams she had; how real it felt to be in his arms, to have him touch her like that…she felt so…happy.

She shook her head for the nth time that day, trying her very best to rid herself from those thoughts, but her mind was starting to get stronger each day as her imagination explored all possibilities of her being with Kakashi.

Sakura was lounging on the couch, frowning miserably as she sat there, staring at a blank TV screen. For the past day and a half, the power had been cut off again by the storm. She was starting to get really irritated by the weather now, and was starting to think when Konoha will drown because of the rain.

But she pushed those thoughts aside for the time being, and was focusing more on the man doing sit-ups next to her, not to mention he was shirtless and sweaty. She couldn't help but smirk.

She gave herself another hard mental slap for thinking about him again in that hour. For a while, Sakura had mental arguments with her Inner self about the fact that she was developing feelings for her former sensei, but Sakura kept denying it. But she had to admit it sooner or later that she was falling in love.

She sighed again and stood up, "I'm bored," she huffed, stretching her arms up.

"Hello, my name's Kakashi. Nice to meet you, Bored," Kakashi said back sarcastically, with a proud grin on his masked face.

Sakura pouted as she gave him a quick stare, hearing him chuckle afterwards, "oh haha, very funny," she said derisively while crossing her arms over her chest.

Kakashi stopped with his workouts and glanced at her, smirking still and turned around on his stomach. He lay there for a moment or so, stretching his arms out and setting his hands on the timber flooring and pushed upwards. Doing a few press-ups wouldn't hurt, but it was to Sakura.

She grunted impatiently as she watched him work out some more, "if you want to do something, you can act as a weight and lie on my back," Kakashi suggested out of nowhere.

Sakura rose her eyebrows at the silver haired Jounin, "you sure?" she wondered cautiously as she edged closer to him. Kakashi nodded as he lowered himself onto the floor so the medic could sit or lie on him.

The pink haired Kunoichi seemed unsure of the suggestion, but she wanted to kill time, and she was sure this would pass some of the time. Slowly and carefully, Sakura settled herself on the Copy Nin's back, trying to find a comfy way of lying on him, without making it harder for him to do his workouts.

Kakashi laughed softly and started his press-ups again. Sakura felt she was going to fall off and quickly wrapped her arms around the man's neck and pulling herself up. She was now lying on her stomach and was holding onto the Copy Nin's neck. Kakashi quickly tensed up a little to tell Sakura to let go, who soon only loosened her grip and settled her hands on his shoulders.

Kakashi resumed doing press-ups while Sakura just lay on top of him. She relaxed herself more and more as time passed, and soon she felt content just lying there. The silver haired man paused a minute and moved one hand from its place and went on again, this time, with only one hand.

The pink haired Jounin was amazed Kakashi was so strong, which was probably one of the reasons why she seemed to find him so attractive. But it wasn't just the appearances Sakura was captured by, she also liked the man because he was so kind to her, and he treated her fairly, and he had a sense of humour that Sakura thought he never had.

So basically Sakura liked the man in every possible way; having pretty much no flaws whatsoever other than his tardiness, but that was something she could deal with.

But a part of Sakura was telling her that she couldn't love him, mostly because of their past together as teacher and student. She sighed as she thought about it; it was really bothering her now.

The Kunoichi noticed Kakashi had stopped, "the rain's stopped," he exclaimed, glancing out the window on his left. Sakura's ears perked up and she was on her feet in a heartbeat and raced to the window. She could hear the man laugh at her giddiness and stood up also and sat on the couch.

Sakura gazed out the window, amazed that the clouds weren't as dark as she had first assumed. She was so caught up about thinking of Kakashi in so many ways and so many dodgy levels that she hadn't noticed that the rain had ceased, finally.

She turned around, glancing at the silver haired Jounin as he sat there, rubbing his bare shoulder, looking a little troubled as he sat there. She creased her brows in thought as she gazed at the man, wondering what he was thinking about.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders as she smiled out the window, seeing some hope in the weather. Not only that, but her leg was almost completely healed too. It kind of disappointed her though, the fact that she would finally go back home and live a normal life again.

She frowned at the thought, but then the mental image of a shirtless Kakashi popped up out of thin air. She pictured him walking towards her, smiling deviously beneath his mask as he reaches to his face to remove it. Mentally, Sakura closes her eyes, not wanting to see his face; scared that it might not be what she had pictured it. She inwardly feels the man's arms wrap around her waist and pulling her flush against him.

He leans close to her ear and gently whispers-

"Sakura-chan, you're wet," came a voice from behind.

Sakura froze instantly; that wasn't what she imagined him to say, and definitely not literally. She blushed furiously and turned around to face him, "…eh?" she squeaked nervously.

Kakashi got up, raising an eyebrow suspiciously and pointed at her, "your wet, see," he prodded the woman's shoulder, where it was damp. Sakura was a little confused now. She stared at her wet shoulder, wondering how it got wet _there_.

Kakashi flinched at the feeling of something wet and cold on his bare shoulder and glanced up at the ceiling, "oh boy…that's not good," he muttered under a sigh.

Sakura looked up and saw that the ceiling was dripping water. After standing there for a while, how could she have not noticed there was water dripping onto her shoulder and back.

She was actually starting to speculate when Kakashi's house would start leaking from all the rain and the damage from the storm. She had noticed that the storm had passed, but the rain certainly hadn't.

"Looks like you've got some leakage in your home," Sakura teased, giggling at the tall Jounin beside her.

Kakashi pouted, "shut up," he nudged her with an elbow and focused his attention back to the water-dripping ceiling.

"I'd better get that fixed before it gets worse," he said to no one in particular and grabbed his shirt on his way to his room.

He later returned with his shirt on and a jacket overtop, while carrying a toolbox in his hand and heading for the door, "I'll have this fixed in no time," he grinned as he opened the door.

Sakura hesitated to say something, but she had to say it before he took off, "just…be careful," she smiled back as she watched him close the door.

Half an hour passed and Sakura just stood by the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Kakashi at some point. The wind had picked up considerably, so the pink haired medic was starting to worry. She paced around in the living room, hearing a few movements and bonking sounds from the roof, assuming her former sensei was still busy.

Suddenly, a heavy gust of wind hit the building; it wasn't so bad, just until Sakura heard something thud harshly against the roof. Did Kakashi fall over? Sakura hoped he hadn't; she still didn't know if she was able to use her chakra fully again, and if the silver haired Jounin returned with a bad injury, she wouldn't know what to do.

* * *

Kakashi clung to the corrugated iron of his roof, stabilising his feet on the gutters as he waited for the gust to pass. He hit his chin and elbow pretty hard, but it wasn't much to worry about.

He felt the winds subside and climbed to the top of the roof, avoiding any slips anywhere. Kakashi had made sure he wasn't going to fall or do anything stupid, and by doing so, he tried refraining from using unnecessary energy including his chakra, so he stuck to climbing. He had just finished replacing some of the iron sheets that had almost been torn from the house during the storm. No wonder there were leaks in parts of his house; some of the roofing foundation had been exposed thanks to the gale, but luckily Kakashi was able to get it all repaired before it got worse.

He made it to the final spot to fix, which was the area just above his living room where the leaks were first noticed. He quickly patched up the last remaining area of the roof and slid back down.

Before Kakashi decided to actually get off the roof, he took sight of the damage the storm had created to the rest of the neighbourhood; it was disastrous to see how much damage there was over just a bit of harmless rain and wind, but add it all up as well as the amount of time, and you get a disaster.

He sighed, regarding the destruction to the majority of the village. His thoughts were drawn back to Sakura at the same time also; he wondered how worried she must be whenever he returned from a life-threatening mission and completely refused to go to the hospital to get treated and only sought out her help.

'_She cares about you that__'__s why_,' a sly voice came from nowhere.

'_Not you again_,' Kakashi sighed, mentally wishing his little conscience never existed, but then again, his conscience had a point.

His Inner self grunted and rolled his lone visible eye, '_not only that, but you care about her just the same way-_'

'_Stop it!_' Kakashi snapped inwardly, getting frustrated and a little angry now.

He pushed his Inner self aside to deal with later and climbed down to solid ground, '_okay then, but don__'__t say I didn__'__t warn you; you like her, and that__'__s the truth_,' from then on, Inner Kakashi remained silent.

Kakashi sighed as he reached for the doorhandle, closing his eyes to ponder over his thoughts. He opened the door, soaking from the windy rain, and set the toolbox on the floor by the door and closed it.

He sighed again as he unzipped his jacket and walked into the living room to only find Sakura snoozing on the couch; her legs slightly off the sofa and hanging just over the floor. He grinned sheepishly as he approached her; his thoughts sinking in deep and torturously getting to him.

Kakashi kneeled down, ignoring the fact that he was soaking wet and absentmindedly moved a stray lock of pink hair from the medic's face, tucking it behind her ear sweetly.

'_Ugh__…_' he cursed, closing his eyes in disgust, '_what am I doing?_'

He huffed, flicking the silver hair from his own face as he reached under the sofa and pulled out the spare blanket. The Copy Nin silently unfolded it and lay it gently over the Kunoichi's sleeping body and stared at her for a while, wondering why he was doing so in the first place.

'_Why do I feel so__…__strange__…__?_' he asked himself, narrowing his eyes at the woman sleeping so calmly on his couch as he felt something flutter about in his stomach.

'_Perhaps it__'__s because you like her, maybe more than just that_,' Inner Kakashi decided to answer, coolly though, as if he didn't want to agitate the Jounin.

Kakashi grunted, but sighed in defeat; his Inner self was right, he was starting to have feelings for her, and as much as he tried to push them away, they kept coming back like a train collision.

He gave Sakura a once over briefly before walking to his room, not bothering to grab a clean set of clothes and just detoured into the bathroom. He shut the door and leaned against it, placing his hands over his face and mumbling something incoherent to himself.

"I'm such a fool…" he mumbled in his palms, lazily tugging his mask off and tossing on a small chair by the basin.

He stripped off his clothes and hit the shower knob. He didn't bother to test the temperature and hissed at the feeling of stone cold water pouring on him. He shivered, gasping a little as he got used to the temperature and soon it got a little warmer. With a sigh of harmony, Kakashi rinsed off the dirt from his hands and his face, smearing some of his favourite scented shampoo in his wet silver hair and scrubbing and massaging the tension in his skin at the same time.

After spending a good fifteen minutes showering and cleaning up, Kakashi wrapped a towel around his waist, letting it hang loosely on his hips and tossed his wet and dirty clothes in the laundry basket. He exited the bathroom, rubbing the back of his head tiredly and walked into his room.

Barely dry, Kakashi pulled on his navy blue undershirt, and got dressed in his plain black track pants. It was pretty dark now, but not so late, but Kakashi was tired, and he had nothing better to do.

The Copy Nin tossed the blankets aside and crashed onto the bed, tucking himself neatly under the sheets as he sighed sleepily, rubbing his stubbly bare face before closing his mismatched eyes to sleep.

* * *

Kakashi sat up instantly, panting heavily and beads of sweat trailing down the side of his face. Some dream he had; it was intense, but not in the good way he was actually expected. He felt sleep come over him again, but the blinding flash of lightning, followed suit by the roaring thunder made him jump unexpectedly and he was wide awake.

The Copy Nin grunted wearily as he glanced around the room before peering out the window; it was raining heavily and the second wave of a storm had hit. He hadn't expected the storm to continue so abruptly, but he guessed it was just winter.

He rubbed his temples frustratingly and rested his arms on his knees, with his head on top. Kakashi closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the rain and hoping he'd fall back asleep, but his efforts were interrupted when he heard the floorboards creak and neared his room.

His ears perked up at the noise, but he was too tired to bother to wonder about it.

If it was an enemy…well, who would want to attack him dead at night and in the middle of a storm in the first place? Either way, Kakashi couldn't be bothered to try and sense who it actually was in the first place.

"Kakashi…" whimpered a familiar voice.

The silver haired Jounin glanced out the corner of his eye and saw Sakura standing there with a blanket wrapped around her, looking upset and a little shaken for a reason he couldn't point out.

"What's up Sakura-chan?" he muttered, lifting his head finally.

Before the silver haired man decided to listen to her answer, he mentally cursed that he wasn't wearing his mask, but he sighed instead, noting that Sakura was probably going to see his face sooner or later. Perhaps she won't see it because it's so dark.

He glanced over, glimpsing another flash of lightning from behind him and seeing the ashamed look in Sakura's eye, "I couldn't sleep," she uttered, looking down at her feet.

Kakashi rose a brow, wondering why his former student was so flustered about not being able to sleep. She sighed softly, stepping into the room, "and…I got scared…" she trailed off, blushing intensely as she edged closer to him.

The silver haired Jounin sighed again, "maybe you should sleep here then," he suggested, shifting over so Sakura could join him. It wasn't something he was really thinking about beforehand, but he just wanted to be nice to her.

Sakura blushed again, "o-okay," she stuttered nervously as she walked over and sat down on the bed, not really keen on making eye contact with the man, even though it was too dark to see anyway.

The pink haired medic tucked herself under the blanket, jumping a little at the sight of lightning flashing brightly. She froze when she caught a glimpse of Kakashi's bare face. Although she couldn't see much, Sakura saw the man's face. From what she could see at that time was just a perfect face; no flaws other than the scar going down his left eye, but she didn't care.

"You're…not wearing your mask…" she muttered, her mouth agape at the sight.

Kakashi said nothing and sighed, "I was probably too tired to realise that I had forgotten about my mask before I went to sleep," he grinned sheepishly whilst rubbing the back of his neck, "and besides, I usually don't wear a mask in my own home unless someone is here, so I figured, hey, if you're living here for so long, might as well let you see my face," he added as he leaned back against the headboard of the bed.

Sakura smiled, a little happy inside that Kakashi trusted her so much already. She yawned sleepily and rested her head down on the pillow, taking in the familiar scent of the fabric silently and slowly allowed sleep to take over.

Kakashi looked down at Sakura, who was just about to fall asleep, but another strike of thunder made her sit up while mumbling silent curses at the weather. The Copy Nin chuckled faintly before a question ached to be answered had popped up in his mind.

"Sakura-chan…" he began, making sure he had the medic's attention this time.

"Hmm," she answered, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting at the window, wishing it could quieten down so she could sleep.

"Did it bother you that you had to stay here with me for the past few weeks?" he asked, glancing to his right at Sakura, who seemed puzzled for a moment.

She frowned a little, saying, "when I first had my injury, I was annoyed because I wasn't at home and I was staying with you," Kakashi pouted, "but now I've gotten used to being here and I enjoy spending time with you, so it's not bothering me as much as before."

Kakashi nodded in understanding, watching a smile spread across the woman's features when she met his gaze.

Another lightning flash.

The Copy Nin sighed longingly, pondering over when he would be able to get some rest without the storm making such an uproar on the house, "so why did you decide to work double shifts at the hospital?" he asked, deciding to ask a few questions before wanting to go to sleep again.

"Because the hospital needs me, and it's good for the patients," she deadpanned tonelessly as she stared at her blanket-covered feet.

Kakashi huffed, "but it's not good for you," he added, concerned about his precious student's wellbeing. Wait, since when did Sakura become precious to him?

Sakura frowned deeply again, looking off to her right and trying not to meet Kakashi's stern and worried gaze, "I know, but it's the only thing I'm good at," she whispered, her head sinking lower to her arms until it was just hanging indolently.

The silver haired man tilted his head to the side, trying to capture the Kunoichi's pained expression through the darkness, "that's not true," he replied, catching Sakura's chin with his hand and gently lifting it up so she was looking at him.

"I'm sure you're good at more than just that; you're smart, strong, stubborn, and beautiful, and I'm sure there are plenty of things you can do other than healing people," he smiled genuinely at Sakura, who only grinned softly at him in return.

It wasn't that Kakashi's comments altogether made her happier, it was something else, "you think I'm beautiful…?" she was almost nervous to ask, but she was curious to know what the man's opinions were.

The Copy Nin's smile was constant, "of course I do; I'm actually surprised you don't have a boyfriend yet, but I'm sure someone will open their eyes and see you in a different way," his Inner self instantly pointed at him with brightly lit arrows shouting, 'Pick him! Pick him!' but he had to keep his emotions hidden away and out of sight, hoping no one would be able to tell what he had to show.

Sakura smiled sweetly at him, staring into his dark onyx eye before laying her head against his shoulder and sighed softly, "thank you," she whispered calmly, closing her eyes and finally succumbed to sleep.

Kakashi's smile died down to a thoughtful and content grin and placed a gentle kiss on the top of the pink haired medic's head. Sakura's eyes snapped open, but smiled nonetheless and closed her eyes again.

"Do you miss Sasuke?" Kakashi asked out of the blue, listening to the rain as it beat down on the house.

Sakura froze at his question and bit her lower lip in apprehension, "not so much as before when he left, but I guess there is nothing I can do about it now," she answered, almost shuddering at the thought of wanting to be in Sasuke's arms.

Kakashi had noticed the way she had reacted to her own answer and knew Sakura had grown up and matured after all these years. Ever since he first met the medic, Kakashi always knew Sakura as an immature girl who only desired and yearned the love for Sasuke, but now, Sakura had realised how much the Uchiha heir had hurt her inside and shunned her from her emotions and feelings, that the Kunoichi had decided to stop being childish and get over him.

"Do you miss him?" she asked him, looking up to meet his contemplative expression.

He smirked a little, "to be perfectly honest, no, not really. Ever since he left, I decided to let him do whatever he wanted, so I'm not worrying, nor am I complaining," he replied plainly, shrugging his shoulders and yawning loudly as he sunk down to the pillow, not realising that he was pulling the medic down with him.

Sakura could all but smile as she found herself wrapped in Kakashi's arms for no apparent reason and sighed softly as she closed her eyes again. The two soon fell asleep completely; deep in dreams of whatever their imagination would stir up for them, even if they weren't very appropriate for their minds, but they didn't really bother with it anymore.

* * *

**Author's notes:** I love the ending of this chapter, it's so sweet :D. The whole "Kakashi up on the roof" thing was just something I wanted to squeeze in to take up some space, so if it was crap, I'm sorry. I must warn you though, in the future chapters, there will be possible lemon, though I'm not sure which chapter exactly; if I told you, I'd just be ruining it for you. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try and update sooner, but with the exams coming up in a few weeks time, I might not get the best opportunity to do so, so bear with me.

Sakura: I loved that chapter :D

Kakashi: meh...it was alright I guess

Sakura: you liar, you enjoyed it

Kakashi: ...and?

Sakura: see? Anyway, I think we should up the rating of this fic to a more mature audience, what do you say?

Kakashi: yeah, "I" for Immature, nah just kidding, maybe just throw it up to M when the real good parts start making a scene

Sakura: yeah, maybe we should

Kakashi: well then, we hope you enjoyed this chapter

Sakura: next chapter will be up ASAP, so have patience

Kakashi: be nice to us and leave a few comments and reviews, arigatou XD


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's notes:** yeah, I updated sooner :P. I don't have much to say at the moment, other than I'm working on the very lemon scene in the story, so if anyone has any tips on a good juicy lemon scene, they would be much appreciated. I suppose you can clearly guess that there will be more lemon later on, otherwise the story will just get boring. This chapter, has mild fluff, but I recommend you get all the kiddies out, just in case.

Sakura: mild fluff? Great, now there's a sex scene of us two

Kakashi: no, that's not what it means, it means there's a little bit of intimacy, but nothing too graphic

Sakura: yeah, and you know this how?

Kakashi: I read porn in public Sakura...ain't it obvious?

Sakura: you're right, I shouldn't have asked

Kakashi: anywho, hope you like this chapter

Sakura: and we'll meet ya on the other side ;D

* * *

CHAPTER NINE: HIS ACTIONS

He had been staring at her for quite some time now, and just something about her just made it hard for him to take his eyes away from her.

Kakashi had been awake for ages, and couldn't be bothered getting out of bed; not while he had his hands gingerly wrapped around Sakura's waist. The medic had her back facing him, and all Kakashi could do was watch her sleep.

Something deep inside the Copy Nin's mind was slowly making its way to a visual; something Kakashi had purposely buried away deep inside himself so it would never interfere with his life as a Shinobi, but something about Sakura made it break the barrier keeping all those feelings locked up and he suddenly had the urge to just grab her and give her the most passionate kiss he could ever muster.

'_Damn__…_' he thought in defeat, smirking at his own wishes, '_guess I__'__m falling for my former student__…_'

With a soft sigh, the silver haired Jounin inched himself closer to the sleeping Sakura and inhaled her sweet scented hair, closing his eyes to the intoxicating smell. Whenever he spoke to her, he felt goose bumps form on his arms just from hearing her voice. He couldn't help but inwardly admire the medic's body; how everything curved in the right places, and she wasn't too skinny or too fat. Her body was well worked in the right places; she wasn't bulky or too muscly, but she was very strong at the same time, stronger than most men in all of Konoha as a matter of fact.

Another sigh escaped his lips and closed his eyes, hoping to get some more rest, but as soon as he settled into another nap, he felt Sakura move around. Had he done something to wake her? Had she been awake all this time and got creeped out by his actions and the way he just moved as close as he could without disturbing her?

Apparently not.

The Jounin felt Sakura tug at his arm that was draped over her side and felt her hands run over his tenderly, almost caressing the now sensitive skin. Kakashi decided to play Sleeping Beauty and kept his eyes closed, only allowing all other senses to act instead.

A moan was heard and instantly felt the bed move suddenly, and Sakura was facing him. By the sound of her breathing, Sakura was still asleep, unless she was playing a silly trick on him, but she wouldn't, would she?

Kakashi felt Sakura's hand run up along his chest as she buried her face in his shirt, breathing calmly as she dreamt. The Copy Nin realised Sakura was awake when she had lifted her head and heard a small gasp escape her lips at the awareness that Kakashi wasn't wearing his mask.

The silver haired man took several breathes to calm himself when he felt Sakura's small hand trace his jawline.

Why was she doing this to him?

* * *

Sakura was completely fascinated at the sight of her former sensei's handsome face. Just by looking at it made her breath catch in her throat. She herself had no idea she was touching Kakashi's face like that, and as soon as she did, she kept going, as if it was completely normal to touch someone's face in such a curious manner.

Kakashi's skin felt so soft to the touch, excepting the light stubble on his chin, but it only made him seem more admirable. Sakura absent-mindedly ran the pads of her fingers over the man's lips. Sakura's mind just went out the window when her hands came in contact with his face.

But Sakura was promptly brought out of her reverie when the Copy Nin's eyes fluttered open. She just froze in her current position as she noticed the smirk playing on his features. A deep shade of red adorned Sakura's cheeks when she had come to her senses and realised what she had been doing for the past few minutes.

In an unexpected an swift motion, Kakashi was hanging over Sakura, straddling her at the waist, staring at her expectantly, "what are you doing?" he asked plainly, watching her currently shocked expression.

"I could ask you the same thing," Sakura said nervously, watching the Jounin's intent gaze locking with her own.

Kakashi just stared at her as he drew closer with a thoughtful grin plastered on his handsome features, "you sure have a lot of nerve to do something like that to me, and I'm still wondering why you did that," he said calmly, slowly closing the distance.

He himself hadn't quite realised that one of his hands was holding her at the medic's side near her breasts, while his other was supporting this position at the wall in front of him.

Sakura flushed again. She couldn't fish out the right words to say as her answer and sighed, "I was curious okay? After all these years I haven't seen your face, there comes a time when someone's desires reach such a certain limit that it just can't be helped and your urges just go nuts," she blushed at her own words and the way Kakashi merely cocked an eyebrow in suspicion.

'_But that__'__s not the only desire that can__'__t be helped soon_,' Inner Sakura said slyly.

'_Shut up, now is not the time to rub it in my face!_' Sakura thought back a threat at her Inner self.

Inner Sakura scoffed, '_speaking of which, Kakashi is giving you a creepy stare_."

'_Huh?_' before Sakura had time to work out what her Inner self was babbling on about, she caught the sight of her former sensei, licking his lower lip seductively as he eyed her.

She stiffened when the man's face drew nearer to hers, "does that _desire _thing count for everyone?" he asked huskily into the medic's ear, his breath tickling at her skin while her stomach did a complete back flip at the sensation.

Sakura could barely hold back a moan at the feeling of Kakashi's hot breath on her skin. She gave the Jounin that was now glaring at her almost hungrily a stare. The pink haired medic just watched as Kakashi waited for an answer.

Upon receiving no answer, Kakashi leaned down again, his lips barely touching hers, "well…?" he whispered seductively, causing Sakura's breath to catch in her throat and absent-mindedly arched her back into him at the wave of sensation.

Kakashi chuckled lowly as he watched Sakura's physical reaction when he said that to her. Sakura practically shuddered at the sound of the Copy Nin's masculine voice. She finally caught hold of her bearings and forced the blush from her face, "if you must know, yes, it does apply to everyone," she said sternly, trying to avoid the devilishly hot silver haired Jounin's lazy stare.

A smirk spread on Kakashi's bare face and leaned closer to her once more, "so what if I had, as you said before, a desire that was urging its way to the surface?" he asked deviously, his lips grazing her soft ones ever so gently.

"Then there'd be something seriously wrong with you if you had a desire that deep," Sakura replied breathlessly as her heart rate sped up.

'_You have no idea__…_' Kakashi's Inner stepped in finally.

Kakashi grinned again before leaning to her ear, saying, "and why is that?" he teasingly ran his tongue along the side of the medic's ear, making her gasp when he caught her earlobe in his mouth.

"I…don't know…" Sakura said in between breathes, trying to allow everything that had happened and was happening currently to register in her now fully corrupted mind.

All thoughts were incinerated on sight when Sakura felt Kakashi give her sweet and gentle butterfly kisses down her neck and on her collarbone.

"K-Kakashi?" Sakura stuttered when the man didn't stop.

Kakashi didn't react to his name when it was called out and only proceeded doing his work on his former student. He went back up to her neck, not daring to look at her now and only savoured the moment whenever Sakura squeaked a tiny moan when she was trying to hide it from all ears.

Just before Kakashi reached down to her chest and his hand that had supported him at the wall was placed on her waist, there was an obnoxious knock at the door.

Kakashi sighed, '_damn__…_' and got up, not even looking at the medic who was now panting a little and completely flustered from that random display of action.

The silver haired man pulled on a clean mask and went for the door when it continuously hammered against the wood, "yeah, yeah, hang on, I'm coming," he stated plainly, pulling a dodgy face at his choice of words and opened the door.

He mentally cursed himself at who was standing in front of him, "have you heard from Sakura-chan yet?" asked a very soaking Naruto, panting as if he had just ran several miles to get here.

Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly, "nope, haven't seen her, so sorry now bye," he shut the door but Naruto's hand blocked him from doing so.

"Hey, can I at least come inside from the rain for a little while?" the blonde practically begged, pouting like an idiot.

Kakashi was about to say otherwise when Naruto just helped himself in, "great, thanks!" he said out loud and sat in his wet state on the sofa, not really respecting Kakashi's home all that much.

The silver haired Jounin sighed, staring out the door where Naruto previously stood, "sure, come on in, make yourself at home…sit on my sofa why don't you," he said to himself, but not loud enough for the Kyuubi-bearer to hear.

Kakashi shut the door and went into the kitchen to prepare himself some tea, "hey Kakashi, I'm just gonna get some old clothes from your room if you don't mind, ne?" he waltzed off down the hallway when the Copy Nin's eyes widened.

'_Shit! If Naruto finds that Sakura is in my room__…__shit__…__he__'__d strangle me senseless_.'

'_Well don__'__t just stand there you nimrod, he__'__s almost at the door_,' Kakashi shook his head and moved at the speed of light, slamming the door shut before Naruto could reach it.

"Hey!" the blonde exclaimed, a little baffled why Kakashi acted the way he did.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head nervously, "I'll get it for you Naruto," he said sweetly, though a little too sweetly for the younger male's liking.

Naruto rose a blonde brow in suspicion, "…okay then, just hurry up okay, I'm starting to get cold here," he whined as he retreated to the living room.

Kakashi sighed again as he entered his room, shutting the door on his way in, "what's going on?" Sakura asked, thinking she was in some kind of sick comedy show and she was the unlucky victim.

"Shh!" the silver haired Jounin stopped her from saying anything and went to the bed.

The medic was starting to get impatient quite quickly, "answer me," she whispered harshly before a hand covered her mouth.

"Naruto's here, and if he finds out you're here in my house, no wait, in my _bed_, then he'll start to think a few disturbing things about the both of us," he said, packing his room up a little and hiding Sakura's duffle bag by throwing it in the closet.

Sakura shot up on the bed and attempted to leave when she remembered who would see her out there, "crap…" she whispered her curse.

"Kakashi, is everything alright in there, I hear a lot of movement," Naruto called from the living room, now standing up to check out the situation.

Kakashi tensed, "no, everything's fine Naruto; just looking for something, I'll be right over," he reassured, hoping his answer would get Naruto to have some patience.

"Hide somewhere," Kakashi said in a whispered voice, ushering Sakura to find a place to stay hidden.

"Where damn it?" Sakura looked around expectantly before the silver haired Jounin tugged at her wrist.

The man gestured under the bed and the Kunoichi instantly had second thoughts about it, "just hide under there," he demanded before quickly finding a way to make it seem like he was actually looking for something.

Sakura wedged herself under the bed, where her nostrils instantly met must and dust bunnies, as well as the sight of an old pair of shoes and some underwear. She pulled a disgusted face but kept quiet and still. Her attention was caught to the sound of the door opening and an extra pair of feet.

"Is everything alright in here Kakashi?" the blonde Jounin asked, finding his former sensei on his knees at his bed as though looking for something.

Kakashi hoped the way he was positioned would give Naruto the idea, "what are you looking for?" the boy asked, raising an eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm looking for one of my Icha Icha books; I seemed to have misplaced it," the Copy Nin chuckled at his own loss while rubbing the back of his neck before standing up to face Naruto properly.

Sakura sighed silently when Kakashi covered the situation with his smut books, but her relief was quickly dulled as well as her colour when she found a huge tarantula crawling over her hand. Trying not to give her position away, Sakura had her own free hand cover her mouth so she wouldn't scream out in fear and just stared wide eyed at the insect as it leisurely crawled over the back of her hand.

She was desperately trying her best to suppress a scream as a tear rolled down her cheek in sheer horror of having her most feared creature make its way over her hand. She wanted to scream, she wanted to move her hand away from the spider and she just wanted to run for the hills.

'_Kakashi! Hurry the fuck up!_' Sakura mentally begged the silver haired Jounin to move things along so she could scream loudly.

"Do you need any help finding it?" Naruto offered a little slyly, grinning like an idiot as though a reward would be placed.

Kakashi shook his head, "no, no, it's alright, I probably left it in the bathroom or something," he mentioned before heading to his closet, "I'll get you a change of clothes quickly, shall we?"

Naruto nodded compellingly, starting to shiver the tiny bit from the cold, "please," he added, peering over the older Jounin's shoulder to see what he was going to grab. Kakashi made sure his former blonde student wouldn't see the strange colourful bag sitting in his closet and shut it promptly when he got the clothes.

The spider decided to crawl from Sakura's hand to further up her arm. The pink haired medic suppressed yet another shriek when the tarantula was on her shoulder and slowly making its way to her face.

'_Please hurry up__…_' she pleaded, feeling the touch of the eight-legged creature torture her agonisingly.

"Here," he shoved the pants and shirt in Naruto's arms and ushered him out the room.

Naruto beamed gratefully as he went for the door, "thanks old man," he mocked cheekily with a laugh as he led himself out the door, shutting it loudly and was out of earshot.

Kakashi returned his attention to his room and shut the door, sighing deeply, "well that went well," he said to no one in particular

The Copy Nin was about to look under the bed when something caught his attention. He glanced down at his bed and right from under it crawled a tarantula. He rose a silver brow at it, as it crawled its way across the room for the exit.

Kakashi chuckled as he watched it make a break but he put a large glass over it, to stop it from going anywhere. He gave the spider a quick smile before looking under the bed to find Sakura completely paled and colourless from fear and ogling wide eyed into space.

"Sakura-chan…are you alright…?" Kakashi was almost afraid to ask the question, but it was answered when the pink haired medic shot out from under the bed and climbed up on Kakashi's back, clinging tightly and fiercely looking around the room, checking for signs of life.

"Okay! Where's that thing?!" she exclaimed, desperately holding onto Kakashi for protection.

Said Jounin just laughed when Sakura saw the spider trapped in the glass, "did the poor spider scare you, Sakura-chan?" he chimed in, grinning like an idiot as he watched Sakura pout angrily as she got down onto her feet.

The pink haired medic glowered at the man in irritation before her memory came back to remind her of what happened before Naruto came in. Her eye twitched and she grabbed the collar of Kakashi's shirt, giving it a good yank before holding him up in the air with her super human strength.

"Why the hell did you do that before?" she gave the stunned Jounin a yell, watching the colour drain and slight fear wash over him.

Kakashi regained his bearings and only stared at the angry woman, "you liked it," was his only excuse and grinned madly.

Big mistake.

Sakura growled lowly before walking towards a wall until she had Kakashi pinned up against it, "that's not what I'm asking," she said sternly, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Why did you do what you did before?" her voice softened a little as she lowered him to the floor.

Kakashi was taking the whole thing lightly, but he knew that stalling would only cause trouble; he just didn't understand why she suddenly calmed down. Usually Sakura would go on a rampage for a long while; break someone's arm or a nose at times, break out into a yelling fit for no reason at all and take her anger out on a tree. These fits could last from one hour to half a day, and if you had something to do with the causes you'd most likely be one of the first patients at the hospital if the woman ever got her claws on you.

Sakura still had a hold of Kakashi's shirt, but only lightly. She was still staring at him, having momentarily forgotten what she was angry at him for. Something about Kakashi made Sakura's threats die down and her temper would be back to normal. It was as though Kakashi was doing something to prevent unnecessary outbursts.

To put it simply, Sakura overreacted to a mere friendly gesture, though slightly sexual, but it was a subtle way of expressing one's unknown feelings towards another.

"I'm sorry…" Sakura said suddenly, looking off to the side and frowning softly.

"No, I'm sorry Sakura-chan," Kakashi spoke up, tilting his head to one side to capture Sakura's weak gaze at the floor.

The pink haired medic looked up to meet the man's mismatched eyes, "I'm sorry for doing what I did; it was uncalled for, and I shouldn't have invaded your personal space like that," he added, his eyes softening to a faint frown.

Sakura's spirits lifted a little before answering, "I shouldn't have overreacted to what you did, it wasn't necessary, though I must add that what you did wasn't necessary either," she rose a thoughtful brow at the man, who only shrugged with a smirk on his face.

Sakura let Kakashi's shirt go and let him leave the room. The older Jounin just stood there, looking at Sakura expectantly who was waiting for him to take his leave. Upon exiting his room, he leaned down to the medic's ear and whispered, "and to answer the question from before, I was purely suppressing my urging desire," he left the room, leaving a very shocked Kunoichi to ponder over the newfound info.

'_Did Kakashi just say that?_' she wondered, staring at the wall where Kakashi previously stood.

'_Are you serious woman? Of course he said that, now we know for sure he likes you_,' Inner Sakura chimed in with a triumphant grin on her face.

Sakura scowled at her Inner self, '_what gives you the impression that Kakashi likes me?_' she asked as though it was the most difficult thing to answer.

Inner Sakura rolled her eyes with a grunt, '_you__'__ve got the body of a goddess, and Kakashi practically took advantage of you back then_,' she said with a smug grin on her features.

'_He did not take advantage of me!_' the medic spat back mentally, almost growling in annoyance at herself for even thinking such a thing.

'_Then what did he do, hmm?_' Inner Sakura wondered, looking thoughtful in a sarcastic way.

Sakura sighed, '_okay maybe he did take advantage of me, but who says I like it?_' she asked herself.

'_Goosebumps, soft moans, the way you moved into him whenever he touched you ever so delicately_.'

'_So__…__?_'

'_So? Face it, you loved it, you want more of it, and you are so falling in love with your former sensei_,' Inner Sakura was practically declared winner of this round; Sakura just sighed in defeat.

Maybe Sakura really was falling in love with her ex-sensei, but she couldn't let him know about it, he would probably give her a lecture about liking your former teacher who is also fourteen years older than she was. Not to mention what it would do to their friendship; Sakura would never be allowed to see Kakashi again.

Sakura sure hoped Kakashi would understand; it was his fault after all. If Kakashi didn't have such a nice body or if he was always so nice to Sakura, maybe she wouldn't be falling head over heals for the likes of him.

The medic sighed, glancing down at the floor where the spider was still trapped under the glass. As much as Sakura couldn't stand spiders, she didn't want to kill it, so she slipped a paper under the glass without letting the creature escape and walked out of the room, eying the tarantula carefully.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," she warned the spider as she went into the kitchen where Kakashi was and opened the window.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi wondered as he rose an eyebrow, watching Sakura thoughtfully as she held the glass out the window of the kitchen and over a shrub.

Sakura looked over her shoulder, "I'm letting this thing go so I won't have to kill it," she said simply before removing the paper from the opening of the glass and let the spider out.

The dark brown tarantula hopped quickly onto a leaf before it fell down to the ground, where it swiftly made shelter underneath the house. Sakura shuddered at the thought of that thing crawling over her again and shut the window.

Kakashi took a seat on the couch with his mug of tea. He stared at it for a moment, unaware of his surroundings until he felt Sakura's chakra very close and looked over to find said medic standing right in front of him, crotch at eyelevel.

He blinked once before making eye contact with the Kunoichi standing in front of him. She seemed stressed about something. She was most likely deep in thought about something, "what's up?" Kakashi wondered, raising an eyebrow as he leaned back on the sofa.

"My leg has been good for the past two days," she reminded him, sounding soft and slightly disappointed.

"I see…" Kakashi frowned beneath his mask, "then I guess you should be going home then."

Sakura nodded, she too feeling just as miserable about the idea as he was. The two Jounins walked to his room where Sakura packed her bag and carried it out of the room to only have Kakashi insist on carrying it for her.

Sakura went to the bathroom to take all her belongings and took any of her other clothes that were left there. She smiled softly to herself before having a vague idea why Kakashi was being touchy and feely before. Maybe it was because he knew Sakura would probably have to go home today and decided to make it one to remember.

Either that or Sakura didn't know.

It went on in silence as Sakura had all her stuff packed up and was slowly heading for the door. She put on her jacket and opened the door, frowning still because it was still raining badly outside.

She turned around to face Kakashi, who was unsure of what to say at the time and looked like he was almost choking on something he wanted to say.

"Kakashi…" Sakura started, looking up to meet his mismatched gaze.

The Jounin remained calm, "I want to say thank you for everything you've done to help me get better," she smiled sweetly at the man, making him smile back in return.

"Anything for a friend," he mentioned, lightening up a little.

Sakura's smile stayed on her face before giving Kakashi a big hug to add to the thank you comment. The older Jounin just creased his eye to a smile and gladly returned the hug.

Sakura mentally wished they could just stay like this forever, but she had to get on with her life, and hugging Kakashi wasn't part of it. She gave him one last smile before leaving the house. Kakashi stood there; he could do nothing to prevent his former student from leaving his home. The mission was over now, and Kakashi had to get on with his life too.

"See you around Sakura-chan…" he whispered to himself as he watched the medic run down the road and towards her place.

Sakura hurriedly made her way home, getting under as much shelter as she could on the way until she realised she was on her street. She caught her breath under the shelter of another building and sped down the street to her place. It was actually her parent's home, but she earned it after they died.

Sakura's parents were killed while she was on a mission. There was an invasion and they broke into Sakura's parents' home, wanting to steal things from them. Her parents obviously fought back strongly, but the rouge ninja killed them almost without hesitation. When Sakura returned from her mission and Naruto broke the news to her, she didn't know what to do; she was devastated.

She had spent almost three weeks mourning over the loss of her only remaining family, but it was thanks to Naruto and Kakashi that she found a purpose in living again. They supported her for a few days and kept her going and soon Sakura was back in her normal routine at the hospital.

As Sakura slipped inside the dark confines of her home, she felt a pang of disappointment to the fact that she would most likely not see Kakashi for a long time again. They would become distant like she had thought when the mission started. Sakura hated the fact that Kakashi could be so cold, even if he never meant it or didn't even know about his own actions until it was too late.

Sakura entered her bedroom, flicking the lights and squinting at the sudden flash of light. She pulled the curtains along so she wouldn't have to look at the dodgy weather outside and crashed lazily on her bed, staring at the ceiling for a while and letting all thoughts roam freely.

As soon as all the impure thoughts began reeling in, Sakura got up, "okay that's enough thinking for now," she muttered, quickly changing into her pyjamas and tucking herself in the covers.

But it wasn't even late.

Sakura was confusing herself now, but she only berated the fantasies of finding Kakashi shirtless and standing in front of her without his precious mask, grinning deviously while reaching for the fly of his pants.

This went on for a while, but then she got bored of it. Seriously how could you get bored of fantasising of your ex-sensei strip teasing for you, albeit all those rules and laws about crushing on teachers. But that wasn't so much of a problem with Sakura anymore. Her mind was constantly brought up to those nasty little scenes that she got used to it after a while.

Maybe she was becoming perverted like Kakashi. Either way, Sakura was tired and she wanted to rest, even though she didn't do much at all today anyway. She closed her eyes and slept the rest of the day until night fell.

* * *

**Author's notes:** there's just one word to describe how Kakashi behaved in this chapter, and that's "perverted," not to mention he was being a little prick when he was getting a lecture from Sakura. I was actually surprised Sakura didn't say anything like that to him, or that I didn't decide to put that quote in at all :S. Personally I loved the spider scene and how Sakura looked like she had just seen a ghost; I ended up picturing her actually almost looking like one, with all the colour draining away and her just completely shocked. But anyway, I'd just like to thank all you readers out there, who are keeping a close watch of my stories, and leaving behind inspirational comments and reviews, they really lift my spirits and motivate me to write more XD.

Sakura: yeah, you really were a perv in this chapter

Kakashi: (reading Icha Icha) yeah, what's your point?

Sakura: (rolls eyes) no I mean a really bad perv in this one

Kakashi: oh...okay then

Sakura: Anywho, Kakashi is a major perv, and I'm a sissy who can't handle a spider

Kakashi: Haha!

Sakura: Shut up...(waves a fist at Kakashi)

Kakashi: lets just end this chat and move onto the next chapter

Sakura: good idea. Reviews help our author out

Kakashi: Thanks for reading, hope you liked this chapter, and the next one will come out ASAP

Sakura: so leave lots and lots of comments okay :D


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's notes:** I just finished reading all the reviews from the last chapter I shoved in, and I just couldn't help but update sooner than I anticipated :D. I love the reviews you send me, they really help with my confidence in writing more and more everyday, but unfortunately, I've hit a dead end with the _very_ lemon part of my story; I can't get myself to carry on because...well, I suppose a lot of you feel the same when writing juicy, graphic, lemony, smutty and detailed scenes of what goes bump in the night :S, but I'll try. So here we are, chapter ten, and things are back to normal with Sakura and Kakashi, or so we think. They are now back in their normal daily routine, regular missions, hospital work, crappy weather, the usual. Enjoy XD.

Kakashi: hmm, almost seems like it's the end of the story already

Sakura: yeah, but you can definately tell it's not

Kakashi: how so?

Sakura: the fact that there's still chapters being uploaded

Kakashi: not that, I mean the actual plot, not the chapters

Sakura: oh, well I suppose it's because there's still a few things not mentioned, and still have to be said, which I'm guessing will be said later on

Kakashi: hmm guess so...I really wanna know what happens next

Sakura: so does whoever reads these chapters, but have patience, we can't spoil it for the others

Kakashi: I know, but the suspense is killing me

Sakura: lol, keep your pants on man, lets just get through this chapter and we'll chat later

Kakashi: right...enjoy

* * *

CHAPTER TEN: WHAT COMES NEXT

"And Sakura made a full recovery and left the day before yesterday at about noon."

"I see."

Kakashi stood in front of Tsunade's desk where behind the weight-suffering table sat Tsunade, who was tiredly working on overdue scrolls. She did ask a mission scroll from the man when she announced it, and so she had to take it.

The Jounin cleared his throat, "I decided to check up on Sakura yesterday to make sure she was able to go through her normal routine, but she didn't go to the hospital for work," he held his usual stance, lazy as always with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Tsunade nodded, "well I haven't given her the thumbs up to go working at the hospital again, which explains why, but perhaps she is also making sure she really is able to take care of herself in her current state."

Another mute nod, "so I can go on standard missions now?" he wondered, keeping his toneless voice in check and holding back the eagerness to get out of the village.

"Well you can go on standard missions again, but that won't happen until the weather clears up," the blonde put simply, closing her eyes as to think about something not related to work or alcohol.

Kakashi sighed, slumping forward a bit. Much to his disappointment, Kakashi understood his given orders and nodded, "though I want you to do one more thing for me Kakashi," Tsunade spoke up a little louder to get his attention back on her.

"I want you to keep an eye on Sakura for me; she's been a bit stressed since before the accident, and I don't want her hurting herself again," Tsunade scratched her cheek, opening another scroll to skim read and sign off, "Sakura is like a daughter to me, and seeing her depressed or hurt only adds to the pain I've already had to go through, especially when her parents died that day," the Hokage frowned at the sad memories of having two ANBU report to her two dead people by the name of Haruno within civilian homes.

She shook her head lightly, "now go, this is the after-mission, a little something extra so you don't die of boredom," she told him, waving her hands dismissively.

Kakashi sighed again, '_as if I wasn__'__t bored on my last mission_,' "understood," was all he answered and went for the door.

"I take it you decided to leave out a few _other _details," Tsunade deadpanned with a thoughtful grin on her features.

Kakashi froze in front of the door, turning to face the Hokage and was shocked to realise how much he did miss out, purposely for his own reputation, "how did you know?" he wondered, a little worried at how much information Tsunade could be receiving.

"It's pretty obvious that you have feelings for her; I'm not stupid," she replied with her smile still constant.

Kakashi was amazed she managed to figure his emotions so quickly and so easily. He spent the majority of his life keeping his emotions under control and making sure no one could know what he was feeling. Now he guessed he could just give up on that attempt because everyone started to figure him out.

Tsunade leaned forward against the desk, her hands propped under her chin, "I don't care whether you like Sakura or not, just as long as you guys live your life to the fullest; I don't want you depending on me all the time so you don't get your head bitten off by old, rule-driven farts," her grin widened at Kakashi's sudden reaction to her words, "if you want her, pursue her; just don't do anything stupid."

She waved her hands to motion him out the door so she could do her work and Kakashi silently left the room. After closing the door, said Jounin leaned against the wall beside the door and stared blankly with wide eyes at the wall opposite him, allowing all the newly given information to actually register.

He gave out a long sigh, trying to maintain the shock, '_how the hell did she find out?_' he asked himself as he made his way out of the Hokage tower and into the rain.

This question however lingered in his mind until Kakashi's feet had directed him down the empty streets until he ended up in the far reaches of the village, soaking wet and in front of a bar.

He was puzzled at his train of thought and entered the building where he found his friends Genma and Gai. Both were surprised to see Kakashi at this time, "Kakashi! What brings you here?" Genma asked, his senbon juggling around in his mouth as he spoke.

The silver haired man shrugged, "I just passed by I guess," he took a seat in between the two males and was immediately given a glass of sake.

All three Shinobi bantered on about what happened during the past few weeks, well, it was mainly Genma and Gai who were exchanging that sort of conversation, Kakashi was simply half-listening to it all and was thinking about other things.

"So where have you been lately?" Genma asked, rubbing the cast of his broken wrist before sculling back another shot of sake.

"I've been taking care of Sakura for the past two weeks and a bit," Kakashi confessed; the mission was over, so might as well spill the news.

Both Genma and Gai sat up in their current state of alcohol intake and eyed the Copy Nin suspiciously, "so that's where she disappeared off to," Genma said to no one in particular and poured himself another glass of the clear liquid.

Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly and sipped away at the glass of his drink, "keeping up with all the youth you can huh Kakashi?" Gai declared boldly as he heavily pat his lifelong friend on the back, making him nearly blurt and cough when the sake was only halfway down his throat.

Clearing his throat, Kakashi gasped a little before staring at his green-clad rival, "actually no, I was playing nurse for Sakura-chan for the past few weeks, which explains why I haven't been seen since," he promptly regretted saying those words and closed his eyes, waiting for the humiliation to hit him.

"You sly dog Kakashi, I didn't know you were so bold as to play games together with Sakura, in fact, I didn't even know you two were seeing each other in the bedroom, let alone anywhere in general," the senbon-wielding man grinned devilishly at his Jounin friend.

Kakashi gave him a lazy glare, though signalling that he did nothing of the sort, "no Genma, that's what you would've done," he said simply and took another sip of his beverage.

"I was given a mission to take care of Sakura-chan because of an injury she received. I found her in the rain with a metal rod in her leg and helped her, so since then, Sakura was practically imprisoned in my house because she was too injured to take care of herself at the time."

Genma and Gai looked at each other expectantly before returning their attention on their silver haired comrade, "all that time together and you didn't make a move on her?" Genma exclaimed a little too loud and was grabbed by Kakashi, who clearly wasn't in the mood to be questioned, especially about him and his former student.

Kakashi had a firm grip on the brown haired man's shirt and sent him a warning glare, "I don't think you should say that in front of Kakashi, Genma," Gai suggested, staring at the silver haired Jounin sceptically.

Kakashi said nothing to Genma and slowly loosened his grip on the man and shot back his drink and instantly refilling it to take another swig. This usually signalled how irritated or angry Kakashi was, which was a rare sight for most of his friends.

"You really care about Sakura-san don't you Kakashi-san," Gai said calmly, having sympathy for his friend and downed another shot.

Kakashi nodded silently, admitting he did have feelings for his former student and sipped away. Genma, finally deciding to be the smart one of the three and asked, "why not ask her out or something; let her know you like her," Kakashi wanted to beat the lecherous man senseless for saying that, but it wasn't like he was saying anything offensive, so there wasn't any point in doing so.

The point was however, Genma was right in a moronic way.

"Why can't you just face something you want, and I dunno, ask her out or something," Genma pressed on, hoping his shirt wouldn't get abused again by his silver haired friend.

Kakashi's brows creased together, frowning in thought, "what's the point in asking her out in the first place; it's known taboo if a student and a teacher have a relationship," he sighed meekly, feeling rather hopeless in his state and downed his shot of sake.

But Tsunade told him straight off that if Kakashi liked Sakura, he should just go for it, right?

There was no harm in liking someone, even if the age difference is a bit ridiculous; it was still possible, right?

"Kakashi-san," Gai began in monotonic voice, closing his eyes as if he was about to tell a heartfelt poem, "you and Sakura-san have already been in a relationship together," Kakashi felt a little disturbed at the way Gai said that to him.

Had he died for some period in time and he was some how dating Sakura already?

"Your bond as student and teacher had created a new bond between friends, and if I'm not mistaken, the bond could even be more than just friendship," Gai could all but smile at his own words as Kakashi sighed in the sheer defeat of words alone.

But Gai was right, and he only corrected his own protests when he remembered Tsunade's statement about dating team mates. According to Genma before the mission had gone off, students and teachers were starting to hook up more often, as if it was the new rage, but Kakashi didn't want to complicate things, which was most likely why he never had a girlfriend of his own.

He was always prodded about getting laid (usually by Genma), but that wasn't the problem. Kakashi could easily get a woman into bed with him if he really wanted to, all he had to do was show up and he would be asked by several drunk women, wanting a good bang. But he only rarely did one-night stands, usually if he was really desperate, which wasn't very normal for him, so he didn't do it as much as Genma tried.

Apparently Genma went through women the same way he went through his underwear, but that wasn't any surprise to Kakashi. In fact, it was one of the first things that went through his head whenever he saw his senbon-sucking friend with a woman or two in his arms.

But Kakashi wasn't here to think about Genma's sex life; he was here to think about his. Well, mainly his feelings towards Sakura; he just needed help and perhaps a few ideas to boost his confidence and grow the balls to confess his love towards Sakura.

The only thing that troubled Kakashi was, did he really _love _Sakura? One thing was for sure, and that was Kakashi hadn't a clue; he had never really fallen in love with anyone except his beloved Icha Icha books, but that was just a perverted interest and hobby he always gladly carried in the confines of his pocket.

"Maybe you're right," Kakashi mumbled with his hand against his chin while holding his glass of spirits.

"Of course I'm right, love doesn't lie, and nor does the power of youth," Gai said evenly, showing off a cheesy grin and patting his friend on the back.

Kakashi felt the need to pull a mighty Gai pose for the hell of admitting said green Jounin was right from the start, but he never did and of course never will. He simply remained almost unfazed and gave the guys a low "mm," as his answer and sighed, getting off his stool and slowly making his way to the exit, raising his hand just above the shoulder so that the two Jounin companions would know he meant to say "later."

It was a little difficult considering the alcohol he had just consumed, but he managed to make it out in one piece without falling over. He hadn't realised he had been at the bar for so long. The sky was already dimming, but that didn't stop the rain from bucketing down on the village.

Kakashi had only just dried off during his time with Genma and Gai, and now he was completely soaked again, but he really didn't care at the moment. With all these new thoughts and decisions, he was barely aware of his surroundings until his own feet had led him to Sakura's home. Somewhat surprised, Kakashi couldn't get himself from walking away; he just stood there, swaying a little from the alcohol and sighed audibly.

Why was he led there in the first place? Was there something deep in his head that just needed to be released? Was he going to force himself to confess his feelings to Sakura? All these things were going through the man's head until he was in front of the medic's front door.

Freezing and forcing himself to refrain from knocking on the door, Kakashi just stared at the wooden access, but he tensed when he didn't sense Sakura's chakra. As far as he was concerned, Sakura wasn't even home, but that confused the older Jounin a little because he was told Sakura probably wouldn't go back to the hospital for another day or so, so why would she not be at home right now, especially when she was probably getting used to living alone again and getting her body back into shape. I mean really, after about two weeks, Sakura's body had gone a bit sloppy, but Kakashi hadn't really taken any notice of it.

Relieving himself with a sigh, Kakashi stepped down the steps, missing one accidentally and hurling himself forward in an embarrassing trip into a nearby puddle. Luckily, the Copy Nin had long legs, so all he had to do was leap a little and he was on solid ground. Her certainly wouldn't want to make a fool of himself if he were to face-plant into a muddy puddle where he was the only one there.

"Damn alcohol…" he grunted to himself as he stumbled down the rainy and wet streets of Konoha, towards his house.

He took to the roofs, thinking it would be a much faster way than taking the roads.

* * *

Sakura was out of luck; she stood there in front of his door, about to knock when something in her head said otherwise. For some reason she just wanted to pop by and say "hi" but her efforts were in vain when she couldn't sense Kakashi's chakra signal.

With a sigh of disappointment, Sakura leisurely walked into the rain, having not bothered about staying dry anymore.

Her days alone at home now were so boring, and she felt pretty lonely now. Even though she was used to living by herself for a while since her parents died, Sakura still felt the need to have someone else in the same building with her to keep her company. She wanted someone to share random jokes with; someone who would be willing to put up with her. Someone she knew well and would always listen to her even if it was something completely boring. Hell, she even wanted someone to cry on when she had a hard day of work or a near-death mission where she met someone from outside the village who was killed later on.

All these suggestions were marked down until one name came up in her head. Kakashi. Sakura had lived in Kakashi's house for about two weeks, and throughout that time, she learned about Kakashi as a person, not as a Shinobi. She saw the human side in him and realised just how much of a good person he was. Not to mention he was incredibly good looking according to Sakura.

'_I guess I like Kakashi a little too much now__…_' she said to herself as she tucked a dripping lock behind her ear.

'_It__'__s not too late you know_,' Inner Sakura reminded, having hope for both their sakes.

Sakura sighed as she flicked her bangs back and started running when she rounded the next corner, '_I suppose you__'__re right; I__'__ve liked him so much, but__…__do I _love _him?_' her thoughts didn't lead her anywhere as she raced down the streets, making sure she wouldn't fall over and hurt herself again.

* * *

Kakashi leapt to the next rooftop and froze when he felt a familiar chakra presence, '_could that be__…__?_' he thought to himself as he slowed down on the roof, furrowing his brows in thought.

The presence soon faded and Kakashi just shrugged, "must be my imagination playing tricks on me," he muttered and jumped off to the next building and headed straight home.

* * *

Sakura could have sworn she felt a recognizable chakra signal coming from somewhere, but she could've also been mistaken for something else. She'd been thinking about that silver haired man ever since she went back to her normal life, and she guessed it was probably her imagination playing up.

She shook the thought from her head and sprinted home; it couldn't have been Kakashi just then, could it? Nah, he probably doesn't bother anymore. Seriously, it was just a mission he had to do, right? Nothing more. But then again, Kakashi gave Sakura so much attention, even when it wasn't completely necessary, especially when he started teasing her with kisses. Was _that _part of the mission? Most likely not.

As Sakura neared her own home, she hadn't realised that she had been right at that point when she sensed Kakashi's chakra signal. In fact, Kakashi had passed above her, and neither of them had taken any notice of it and ignored it, thinking it was just their own thoughts.

Sakura returned home, soaking wet but could care less; she was tired so she couldn't be bothered to worry about her state. She took a long shower, enjoying the feeling of warm water soothing her nerves and washed up. After Sakura showered, she jumped into her pyjamas. They were pink; the pants had little pictures of bunnies scattered in different poses and on the low-cut tank top there was a cute white bunny on the front, holding a carrot possessively as it looked cutely at whoever owned it.

The medic snuggled under the covers of her bed and sighed, still not over the fact that she was alone again, and probably would be like that until she found herself a boyfriend; which was most likely a long way away.

But pushing her doubts aside to deal with later, Sakura allowed sleep to take over and she was fast asleep within seconds; dreaming peacefully of past time memories of her friends, and then it became memories of her and Kakashi. The dream got a little out of hand as she replayed that little thought when Kakashi was teasing her with kisses, where he was shirtless and Sakura was urging him to keep going. Even though it was a bit of a disturbing and wrong thought, Sakura let it linger, not bothering to wake up as a smile played on her features.

* * *

It had been the first time in about two weeks since Sakura had been at the hospital, tending to patients non-stop, but she was glad to go back because she wanted to go back to the way things were before she hurt herself.

During the day, Sakura was in her office, swallowed up in the paperwork that had slowly been piling up during her absence. With a long and audible sigh, Sakura let her forehead hit the table repeatedly under the stress of signing medical scrolls and having to read through them.

She gazed out the window momentarily; the rain had stopped and there was a sprinkle of sunlight peeking through the grey clouds. Perhaps things will turn good today; the fact that it wasn't raining anymore could've been a sign, but then again, she could be wrong.

"Sakura-san, Tsunade-shishou wants to talk to you," a nurse called from beyond the door.

Sakura sighed, "okay, I'll be there," she told the nurse and signed one last scroll before getting up and striding to the door.

Upon reaching Tsunade's office, the pink haired medic wondered what she would be wanting of her at a time like this. It was almost noon, meaning it was almost her lunch break. She was pleased to notice lunch was not long off and she would be able to leave the hospital for two hours and eat something and perhaps catch up with her friends.

Almost hesitantly, Sakura knocked on the door. There was an abrupt shuffling and then a, "come in," from Tsunade. Sakura rolled her eyes, suspecting her medic teacher was doing a quick tidy up before allowing anyone to see her. Sakura entered the office and found Tsunade leaning over to stuff some scrolls and other paperwork in a box at her feet. It was pretty amusing to see the Hokage almost drowning under all that paper; there must've been at least two whole trees on the desk.

"You wanted to see me, Tsunade-shishou?" Sakura broke the silence.

Tsunade sat up, rubbing her head a little, "yeah, I just wanted to make sure you are fit enough to be back at the hospital; I wasn't really expecting you for another week," she said, leaning back on her chair and let out a long sigh.

Sakura nodded, "I didn't want to remain at home for a whole week when I feel perfectly fine," she said firmly, keeping her emotions in check to make sure she wouldn't snap at the Hokage.

The hazel eyed woman let out another sigh and propped her elbows on the desk with her head resting on her hands, "I suppose I can trust you with that, but if your leg is bothering you, let me know and I'll allow you to go home," she gave her former apprentice a warming smile before getting serious again.

"I trust Kakashi treated you well?" Tsunade asked, although knowing about everything already, she just felt the need to ask.

A nod was Sakura's answer, "yes, though I felt kind of lazy because of my leg, but I had my reasons," she smiled sweetly at the blonde woman behind the desk.

"Good," she closed her eyes, "alright then, that's all I need to hear from you for now; go and have your lunch break and then I want you to get straight back to work when you return."

Sakura gave a firm nod and was excused from the room. She slumped forward in a sigh, '_what was that all about?_' she asked herself, frowning a little but shook the worries from her head and made her way down the hallway and into the reception area of the hospital. She detoured across the hallway and into her office. Sakura took off her long white coat and tossed in on her chair as she took a gulp of her now cold coffee. Just before leaving, Sakura noticed a beige coloured piece of paper folded neatly on her desk. She hadn't noticed that before, so she guessed it was put there when she was talking with Tsunade. She picked up the small scrap paper and unfolded it to reveal a message:

"_Go to the hot springs with your friends and have a good time on your lunch break."_

Sakura pondered over the message for a while before she smiled, agreeing with the message that she needed her lunch break to relax, especially with her friends. She also wondered who sent her this memo, but it was answered when she noticed a smiley face drawing with a line going over the left eye. Sakura smiled at the parchment, reminding herself to thank Kakashi later.

She easily recognised who wrote this because of the chicken scratch writing; it was a wonder Sakura could even make out what it said.

Tossing the note in the drawer of her desk, Sakura grabbed her jacket and made a quick phone call at the main office of the building to call her friends. Having done that, Sakura exited the hospital and made her way to the public hot springs a few blocks down. She told her friends to meet her at the hot springs, so she didn't have to go pick them up at each location they were in. On her way there, Sakura stopped by a small bakery and picked up something to eat before heading to her destination.

There she met up with Ino, Tenten and Hinata who had just made it there before Sakura did. Sakura was glad to see her friends again after a while; she just felt the need to be with them, and now she finally got the chance, thanks to the note she received from Kakashi.

"Hey Forehead, haven't seen you in a while," Ino exclaimed in her boisterous manner as she gave her pink haired friend a hug.

"It's great to see you too, Ino-pig," Sakura replied evenly with a smile.

Sakura then greeted Tenten and Hinata with a hug and they entered the building. Getting themselves a bathrobe each, the girls made their way to the steamy hot springs. They were thankful the hot springs were divided for men and woman because next door to the woman's side they could hear the med discussing their personal assets and comparing their ego with other males around them.

The four girls rolled their eyes in unison and stripped down from their clothes and slipped on their robes and entered the open area of the hot springs. They sighed as they entered the hot waters of the natural springs and they gathered in a small group, all surrounding Sakura so they could hear the real reason why she was absent.

"So tell us Sakura, where've you been these past two weeks?" Hinata asked. Thanks to Naruto, the Hyuuga heiress finally stopped stuttering when she spoke and was more confident about herself.

Sakura felt unsure whether she wanted to tell them what really happened and sighed, "I injured myself and Kakashi was forced to take care of me until I got better," she breathed, submerging her body deeper in the water. All three other girls gasped, "no way," Tenten exclaimed.

Ino's mouth dropped open, and if it hung any further down, her jaw would snap off, "you so _have _to tell us what happened," she demanded, grinning evilly as she neared her pink haired companion.

"Yeah, please tell us," the weapons mistress pressed on, nudging Hinata, who nodded in agreement.

Sakura sighed, "alright," she muttered, which got her friends to crowd around her even more to hear the story.

And so, the pink haired Kunoichi told her best friends what had happened at Kakashi's house; down to the final moment together, where she blushed a deep shade of scarlet when she thought back to when Kakashi was smothering her with his lips.

All the girls were surprised, staring at their green eyed friend in disbelief, "you saw his face?" Hinata asked, her eyes almost bugging out of their sockets at the news.

Sakura nodded.

"You saw his hot and well-toned body?" Tenten asked in the same tone as the Hyuuga girl.

Sakura nodded.

"He _kissed _you?" Ino exclaimed, obvious jealousy present in her voice.

Sakura nodded.

All girls scoffed, "you lucky bitch," Ino spat, though not to insult. Sakura couldn't help but smirk at all of their envious stares; even some of the other women in the baths around them were looking at her with a hint of an evil glare. They must've overheard.

Sakura had to expect it from her friends that neither of them asked if she was feeling better now and worrying about the possible ambush of those rogue ninjas that drugged Kakashi and hurt her in the process, all just to kill Kakashi.

"But are you okay now?" Hinata asked.

Sakura nodded, feeling thankful that at least _someone _cared about her safety, "yeah, I just got back to working at the hospital today," she added. The pink haired medic noticed the covetousness practically radiating off Ino. Again, she smirked but put those thoughts aside and smiled sweetly at her friends and she elaborated on the events that had taken place, receiving gasps and stares of awe from her friends as she spoke.

* * *

**Author's notes:** haha, I liked the statement Kakashi made about Genma "he goes through women the same way he goes through his underwear," I just had to put that one in :P, but it is true though, with all the fanfics I've read about Genma, it's a very true statement. Again, I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing, it really helps me when I'm writing. At the moment, I'm still working on Chapter Twelve, and, as I've mentioned earlier, I've hit a dead end, and I'm really trying to get through this scene without messing up, so when it's uploaded, I apologise if it's crap.

Sakura: I'm sure that scene will be fine

Kakashi: yeah, if anything, it'll probably be better than the other scenes you've written

Yan: you really think so?

Kakashi and Sakura: yeah

Yan: yay! Ego boost

Kakashi: so...Sakura...you and the girls in the bath house huh?

Sakura: pfft...you're such a hentai oi

Kakashi: no I'm not...ha, I'm not nearly as much of a hentai as Genma; he's worse than me

Sakura: I suppose you got me on that one

Kakashi: yeah, I bet he reads Icha Icha right before he goes to bed just to have fancy dreams about it

Sakura: I bet you do too

Kakashi: ...no I don't (shifty look)...I would never

Sakura: whatever, anyway, hope you liked this chapter

Kakashi: we'll update as soon as we can, so until then, laters, and leave some comments if you want :D


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's notes:** Am I late? Hmm, oh well. I'm reading the latest manga chapters at the moment, and right now, I'm a bit annoyed with Masashi Kishimoto, and I think you'll strongly agree with me if you read them. Danzou is a prick, and I hate cliff-hangers, grr. I won't spoil it from there for you guys, and I'll stop babbling while I still have a chance. Okay, so we're nearing the juicy chapters if you get what I mean ;), yet, I'm anxious to know what you would think of it, but oh well, that chapter is yet to come, haha. Anyway, thanks for everyone for reviewing, I'm loving the attention and the awesome comments, but seriously, if you want to critisise, go for it, but it's only the positive ones that will matter to me :D.

Sakura: closer to our fate, huh?

Kakashi: (reading Icha Icha) seems so

Sakura: pff, you don't seem to have much interest in this chapter, why is that?

Kakashi: what makes you say I don't have any interest in this chapter?

Sakura: because you seem like you'd rather read your gay and utterly rubbish porn books

Kakashi: hey! They're not gay, nor are they rubbish; Jiraiya has very good taste in writing

Sakura: ew...aren't you a little disturbed by the fact that an old man writes those??? Oh wait! Never mind, I see now old men _read_ them too ;D

Kakashi: that's not funny, and I'm not old

Sakura: your hair says differently (prods at Kakashi's hair)

Kakashi: stop that (wipes hand away) it's silver if you really want to know, and I was born with that hair; it's what seperates my clan from everyone else.

Sakura: yeah right, I'm sure you just have terrible pigmentation problems with your hair (grins)

Kakashi: whatever! Lets just let the visitors read the chapter

Sakura: Okay then...ENJOY everyone XD

* * *

CHAPTER ELEVEN: SEEKING THE TRUTH

After a good half hour of drabbling about the mission Kakashi was given, the four Kunoichi were discussing the good and the bad about all male Shinobi of Konoha. It was fascinating to see how each reacted to each name. The moment Kakashi was mentioned as part of the subject, Sakura couldn't help but blush, and as soon as Ino got carried away with the details and started talking about his assets, Sakura wanted to change the subject instantly. She personally had seen his face, and almost every inch of his body, just the only areas Ino was discussing now were the bits she _hadn't _seen.

But Hinata remained rather quiet about it only because she was already dating Naruto, "so how's it going with you and Naruto?" Tenten asked, threading her fingers through her dark brown hair; Sakura mentally thanked her dearly for changing the subject on her behalf.

"It's going along great at the moment," the Hyuuga girl replied sweetly, smiling softly as a blush formed across her already heated cheeks.

The other girls smiled and sighed as they relaxed in the natural springs, "man, this weather sure has been strange today," Ino said out of the blue after five minutes of utter silence. Tenten, Hinata and Sakura all hummed in unison; all too lazy to speak now that their muscles were completely relaxed in the water.

* * *

The rest of the day went along like any other day for Sakura. After her lunch break at the hot springs, she felt a lot better and her body felt refreshed and cleansed. Just as the end of the day had arrived for her at the hospital and she was in the middle of mending a broken ankle of a eleven year old boy, her mind had brought her up to the conclusion to thank Kakashi for the idea.

Once Sakura had finished her healing, she patted the boy's knee to let him know she was done and he could let go of the bench. The boy seemed embarrassed because he was screaming for a while and hung onto the bed to ease the pain, which actually did nothing to help him in any way, "okay, your ankle is all better, but I warn you, next time you climb high trees, make sure your sensei is there to supervise," she gave the brown haired child a stern look before dismissing him.

The boy blinked once before leaving the room; he hadn't mentioned how he broke his ankle, so he was a little shocked as to how Sakura knew. After the pink haired medic packed up her things at her office, she grabbed her coat and left the room, striding down the hallway and toward the exit of the building. Signing out quickly, Sakura waved to the nurse behind the counter and left the hospital.

Strangely, it hadn't rained all day today, which was probably a sign that it was going to bucket down later on, but either way, Sakura didn't mind. She smiled as she made her way home, happy that she was back working at the hospital and got to catch up with her friends on her relaxing lunch break at the hot springs. Just then, a thought plagued her once more. It was her decision of whether or not she was in love with Kakashi, and the one thing she had most trouble with lately was following what her heart said. The last time she followed her heart was with none other than the last remaining, Uchiha Sasuke himself. Sakura was completely focused on earning the raven haired boy's love, that she didn't really know what was going on around her. And right at the very end, Sasuke had crushed her heart into pieces and Sakura was left depressed over her loss, but she managed to get over it and let him be.

"Hey Forehead!" an obnoxious voice bellowed from across the streets.

'_Aww man__…_' Sakura groaned inwardly before forcing a smile at her blonde haired friend.

Ino ran across the street and caught up with Sakura, who didn't really want to talk to her, especially when she had a few other things to deal with right now, such as her current decision making about her love life.

Sakura sighed when Ino decided to walk alongside her to her house and she had a look in her eyes that meant trouble and information wanted from her pink haired friend, "so," she started promptly, "how long?" simple question enough, but it was a little out of the blue for Sakura.

"How long what?" Sakura was stalling and Ino knew it.

The flower girl rolled her pale coloured eyes and said, "don't play dumb Sakura, you know what I'm talking about," she gave her long-term friend a firm stare, which made Sakura give up in the end, knowing Ino could complain for a long time until it went her way.

She sighed in defeat, "so how long have you had feelings for him?" Ino prodded, letting her know that she demanded to know. The pink haired Kunoichi raised a hand to let her know she was going to reply and thought about it for a moment. How long _had_ she harboured feelings for him? She couldn't tell from the top of her head, but she knew it had been for a while.

"A while I guess," was all Sakura could say. She didn't know how else to answer.

Ino scoffed, "you don't know how long you've been crushing on him for?" she exclaimed loudly as though she wanted everyone to hear about the conversation she and Sakura were currently having.

"Pipe down Ino, and no, I don't know, or at least I'm not one hundred percent sure how long," Sakura glared at her blonde haired friend, making sure she'd get the idea and leave her alone about it, but she didn't seem very convinced. Sakura thought deep about how long she had actually been crushing on Kakashi; she guessed it had been for a long time because she noticed the two Jounins had been stated as equals when they hadn't seen much of each other when Naruto was training with Jiraiya. No longer did Sakura see Kakashi as her sensei, but as an equal comrade and friend.

There was a time when Naruto and Sasuke were talking about Kakashi when he was still training them, and they were mentioning Kakashi's muscles and how well toned he was, and all Sakura could do was gape at the two boys and listen to their banter about whose body was better in muscle; Kakashi being the winner in that department. Sakura confirmed their assumptions recently when she caught a good look at Kakashi's body, though not all of it, but from what Sakura had seen of it so far, she was practically drooling at the mere sight. That last morning she was at his house and they had decided to sleep in the same bed together, Sakura and noticed that diagonal scar running over his chest; she remembered that from years ago when he got himself slashed by Zabuza in the land of Waves. She could clearly remember when she was the one who had to bandage up his chest, with the exception of a firm blush gracing her cheeks, but she wasn't able to catch a full glimpse of his torso because of the injury and the blood all over him.

"But from when you can remember, how long?" Ino pressed on, pulling Sakura out of her stupor.

She gave a light shrug, "since Naruto came back after his two and a half year training with Jiraiya, I think," Ino rose a brow and gave her pink haired friend a thoughtful stare.

They just rounded the corner to Sakura's street, "but Sakura, if I may ask, why Kakashi?" Ino asked, raising an eyebrow and slightly concerned that Sakura was practically crushing on her former sensei. She realised however that she didn't mind at all actually; she was just a little jealous that Sakura got all the hot men and she was stuck with a neighbour just down the hall from her apartment.

Sakura shrugged, having pulled her mind out of memory lane, "I don't know; Kakashi's a nice guy, and he was always looking after me when I needed it, I suppose it's because of a few certain qualities that he fits with," she said offhandedly, watching Ino's expression change a little at the statement.

The medic glanced over at Ino, who was giving her the stare that only meant she didn't like what she heard, "that's it?" she quipped, "no comments about how good he is in bed, or dodgy fantasies of you waking up in the middle of the night sweating from a horny dream?" she snapped.

"Ino!" Sakura seethed, glaring at her blonde haired friend at all costs to get her to shut up.

"What, I'm just saying, haven't you even considered _those _possibilities?"

Sakura was very tempted to slap Ino across the face; usually it would be the other way around, where someone would ask that same question because the other person only talked about how great someone is in bed. But this was Ino we're talking about, so Sakura couldn't help but sigh.

Sakura glanced tiresomely at Ino, "look Ino, I appreciate what you're trying to say, but right now I'm really tired, and I'll think about this on my own and come up with my own decision," she smiled sweetly and when she reached her house, she waved goodbye to Ino, who remained silent and walked on, waving in return.

As soon as Sakura was inside her home, she heaved a great sigh and slumped forward, realising her frustration towards her friends. She would get her answers soon enough, but right now, something to eat and lounging in her living room was in need. She made her way into the kitchen and fixed herself a steaming mug of tea and a healthy sandwich to satisfy her hunger.

She took a seat on the couch and silently ate her food, staring at her tea and her mind was phasing out. She quietly thought of a way to tell Kakashi how she felt but…it was just too hard to build up the courage to say something to him, or at least say something of that nature. She liked him, maybe even loved him, but she didn't know how to tell him.

She remembered that morning what Kakashi conveniently had himself on top of her and she saw a look in his eyes; something that made her see him as an even more different person. What he showed was almost needy, as if he wanted to tell her something at the time, but couldn't say it. Great, this was just peachy; both of them had something to say, and neither of them had the balls to say it. But that moment gave Sakura the assumption that she shouldn't be so afraid to tell him, thinking that he knew and he did too.

The medic shook her head and sighed, getting up after finishing off her food and tea and brought it to the counter to clean later and walked into the bedroom. There was still a bit of daylight, so Sakura decided to just hang around in her room and reminisce there.

She sat on her bed, staring at the bag that she _still _hadn't unpacked ever since she left Kakashi's house. With a tired grunt and a mumble of incoherent words, Sakura got down on her knees and unzipped her bag, pulling out all her things and tossing them in two piles for dirty clothes and clothes she could put away because they were clean. Out came the teddy bear she took with her and gave it a kiss on the forehead and a cuddle before tossing it onto her bed. She carelessly tossed shirts, pants, shorts and skirts onto the growing pile of some much needed washing and barely payed any attention to what went where.

Once her bag was emptied, she tossed it up onto her closet where she stored most of her rarely used things and carried the laundry into the bathroom where the washing machine stood, unused long since she came back home. She started sorting out by dark and light colours for each load. She tossed all the dark in first, making sure there wasn't anything light such as her white socks in amongst the laundry. She stopped, raising an eyebrow when she came across something that would barely fit her because of the sheer size. It was dark navy blue and really baggy, but then it hit her. It was the shirt she had borrowed from Kakashi and she tossed it into her bag by accident. Oops.

A small smile formed its way on her features the longer she stared at that shirt. She hadn't seen Kakashi since she was able to go home, and she started to miss his company. Not only that, but the smell of him was something she suddenly got used to and practically longed for now.

She threw the rest of the necessary clothes into the washing machine and the other light pile in the basket for later. The thought of Kakashi's presence lingered at the back of her mind as she walked back into her room to do a bit of much needed paperwork to pass the time.

* * *

After a few boring hours of writing senseless reviews on her patients from dates that passed a month back, Sakura stopped, feeling her eyelids abruptly grow heavy. She set her pen down and lazily stared at the writing on the papers, wondering how she had managed to write so much, but as soon as she caught notice of the time, she gave a simple nod to answer her question.

She reached up to the ceiling with her hands, stretching her now stiffened muscles and inhaled deeply before she felt a sharp pain shoot down into her left leg. Sakura stiffened instantly, gasping at the sudden feeling. She had leg cramp again, and right now, all Sakura wanted to stop the pain was Kakashi's hands to ease it. He had done it before, so he can do it again, but he wasn't here, so Sakura was at a loss.

She desperately reached down and tried soothing the aching muscle with her hands, trying to massage them to relieve the tension like how Kakashi had done back then. It wasn't working as well as she had hoped, but soon the stiffness was gone and she sighed in relief, leaning back on her chair and staring aimlessly at the wall in front of her.

With all the photos of many years ago, Sakura had something to look at. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the wooden surface and gazed at the difference between her age currently and back when she first became a ninja. All her hard work and efforts had paid off in the end; she had become a grown woman with brute super human strength and a temper to beat. When she was still a Gennin and was still swooning over her crush on Sasuke, there was barely much to look at with her because she was pretty pathetic in strength, but a practical loudmouth almost like Naruto. Now she had matured greatly over the years as a Kunoichi, and become a valuable asset to the village. She was proud to have gotten this far already.

Her eyes panned across the photo-covered wall and took in the sights of her past and cherished childhood. There was a photo of her and Ino, smiling brightly together a while after they had first become friends. Back then, Sakura was a very happy girl. Gullible and naïve, yes, but a happy girl indeed.

Her team photo caught her attention quickly and her gaze softened a little at the sight. Everyone seemed about as normal as you could get from that team. Sasuke: depressed, Naruto: loudmouthed, Sakura: just your average pre-teen girl with obsessions of the opposite sex. And Kakashi…well the first word that always came to mind about him was 'mysterious'. It was true because Kakashi always wore that confounded mask wherever he went, and heck, maybe he even showered with it. But there was just that outer side of Kakashi that gave a mysterious aura radiating off him at the sight. His eyes did nothing about it because there was only one visible and it never expressed a thing on most occasions.

On the photo however, Sakura was able to notice the distress Kakashi was going through during the photo shoot; showing that he wished why he was stuck with a bunch of retards as his students. No, strike that, his _only _students to have ever passed and survived his training methods.

The photo of her as a baby was in front view now. She looked about the same as every other baby she had ever seen in her life; all except the big green eyes and pink locks, but everything else was standard 'baby'. But she had to admit she was cute at that age; only a couple months old at the time. She hadn't quite taken to realise how much she had changed over the years. She was such a sweet innocent child that grew up wanting to be a dangerous Shinobi. She discovered boys, or better put: discovered Sasuke. Sakura realised in the end that she didn't love him; that it was merely a childhood crush and that the Sasuke she wanted was just a figment of her imagination.

Sasuke never returned any feelings to Sakura whenever she wanted him to. She guessed Sasuke treated her just like every other swooning fangirl out there wanting to see him take his shirt off or even say something cool, which rarely happened anyway.

Though something always got her thinking, and that was her natural hair colour. She was pretty lucky that her favourite colour was red so pink was an exception, but if it hadn't, she would've killed to change the colour to something more suitable to her taste. She hadn't met any other person other than her own mother who had the same hair colour, and why it was pink she didn't know.

The one thing that bothered her about it was that she stood out easily; in fact, all members of Team 7 stood out, not only because of their personality, but their style. Naruto was obnoxious, and his bright yellow hair only added to his attitude. Sasuke was always full of himself, and the blue-black hair colour shaped oddly only made it worse for Sakura to bare, and it made him look like one of those cockatoos with the crest sticking up. His lone-wolf attitude alone did that job perfectly. Then there was Kakashi, one of a few people in Konoha who wore a mask on a daily basis, and his unruly silver hair, spiked in an odd angle made things see more interesting in a strange way for Sakura. When she first met Kakashi, she thought that her sensei was some kind of creepy clown or something because of the way he stood, spoke and his unusual way of being sarcastic with his students. His hair style alone was something of a mystery.

Mystery.

That word always came up when she was around Kakashi; during missions and training, that was the basis of which she concentrated on, although trying to learn at the same time. When he wasn't looking, or she assumed he wasn't looking, she would stare at the angled silver hair whenever she got the chance, pondering over its shape and colour.

She never expected to have Kakashi as her teacher, even though she never knew him prior, but to have one of Konoha's top Shinobi as _her _teacher was something she couldn't quite find the answer to. She guessed it was probably because Naruto was the dumbest and Sasuke was the smartest and that their potential of being a fully fledged Shinobi was great, not to mention Sasuke's determination to kill his brother, Itachi and restore his clan. And Naruto had the Kyuubi sealed within him, and he had the full determination to become the next Hokage.

And what was Sakura to them? What potential did she have at the time? What was her dream?

But seriously, what _was _her dream? When they first met up with their new sensei, her dream at the time was to marry Sasuke and have lots of sex and babies. Okay maybe not the latter, but marrying Sasuke was practically her top priority. Now her dream was crushed and shattered into pieces and she was left with nothing, thus it made her feel empty.

Sakura shook her head of any negative thoughts clouding her mind and judgment and looked on. She gazed at many more pictures of herself and many others, smiling at the sweet memories. There was one she clearly remembered when she was fifteen, and _long _after Sasuke had left. This was shortly after Kakashi was released from the hospital after using the Mangekyou against Deidara and overused the Sharingan as usual. Naruto, Kakashi and herself came across a public photo booth and Sakura insisted on taking a few shots. Naruto happily complied, but Kakashi wasn't too keen on getting photos taken of himself. After five minutes of pouting and begging, with the help of Naruto's tugging and pulling on the older man's sleeve, Kakashi sighed in defeat and accepted the offer.

The pink haired medic giggled at the memory when she stared at the four photos attached to one another in sequence. The first one was with Naruto and Sakura along, smiling cheerfully at the camera with the blonde flashing the piece sign. The next one was with Kakashi, who had his book out in front of the camera, which annoyed Naruto somewhat. He gave the older man a good yell and Kakashi eventually put his book away. The photo shot was a cheerful one that one; Kakashi smiled properly for a change, and on the last shot, Sakura grabbed both boys on either side of her and held them close for a group hug as the shot was taken. She was very happy afterwards, but no one wanted to take the pictures home, so Sakura decided to take them. She had them pinned up on that wall ever since.

Her thoughts about the past and the good old days were interrupted when she realised how late it was. Sakura sighed, stretching one last time and got up off her chair. She'd have to figure out when to tell Kakashi how she felt, if she felt anything about him at all. Kakashi practically took advantage of her on the day she was going home, yet she didn't protest against his actions. In fact, she didn't mind it at all, she was just a little shocked by the fact that it was Kakashi doing those things to her. Certainly that had some effect on her. Hell, he had a _huge _effect on her, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, he affected her so much, and she only realised that recently.

Sakura settled under her blankets after changing into her pink pyjamas. She sighed to herself as her eyelids grew heavier by the second and stared at the ceiling as she allowed sleep to overcome her, but just before she drifted off to a sound dream, she made up her mind.

'_I will tell him the next time I see him__…_'

* * *

The light peered its way through the window of the bedroom and played on Sakura's eyes. It was a groggy moan that woke her up that morning. She had a feeling at the pit of her stomach that today would be a good day; not because of her assumptions last night, but it was just the atmosphere that that filled the room, creating a happy vibe around her that lifted her spirits a little.

As Sakura prepared herself for the day's events and made a light breakfast, she thought about what she had said to herself before falling asleep. The statement was taunting her, she knew that much, but that was only because she was just anxious about telling him, and she was also scared he would reject her.

'_No! I won__'__t let that get me down_,' she mentally reassured herself, in hopes of keeping herself determined throughout the day in case she did bump into Kakashi in the village.

This way, she'd be prepared for it.

* * *

She had a rough shift today, but thankfully she still had an hour left and she had the rest of the day off. When she came into work that day, Sakura found a white rose positioned on her desk with a crumpled note on top. She realised it was from Lee, saying how happy he was to see Sakura was well again. Knowing Lee, he probably heard the news from Ino or someone else; most likely Gai if otherwise. The rose had cheered her up somewhat, and thought it as a sweet gift from the young green clad Jounin.

Three people came in as soon as she arrived at the hospital; they were civilians involved in a mission somehow just outside the village and something went wrong and they got themselves injured pretty bad. The first one she was checking over was actually concussed, so she couldn't do much, but mend his broken arm and jaw. The next one had several gashes on his arms and a badly broken leg: broken at the ankle, practically shattered just above the knee and a cracked hip. The third wasn't as badly injured as the others; he had a cracked jaw, a few gashes here and there and a hairline fracture.

Her last hour was spent signing paperwork for said people she had to fix up, and she always found the paperwork the most dreadful part of the job, not to mention the more boring.

With a long and stressful sigh, Sakura delivered the documents to the head doctor of the department to pass onto the medical records of every patient since Kami knows when. All their information and records were stocked in the spooky basement below; she had only once been down there to retrieve a single file for research and she never thought she'd make it out alive, or mentally stable. It was like walking through a maze of mirrors. The files they had there must've been there for so long, and they had so much of it, and no doubt about several Shinobi these several generations before her own. Most of the documents stored there were for reference to those who frequently visit the hospital, and others were extra information for medic eyes only. That information was classified to only those qualified to read these files. Sakura was one of the few who was allowed to do so.

She still had half an hour left before she would go home, and now she had nothing to do. If she went out and asked for something to do, she'd probably get thrown a nurse job down the ward and she'd be held up for hours on end, and she didn't want to do that, or at least not today anyway.

The medic sat in total boredom at the desk of her office, the only sounds perceptible were the ticking of her clock, her own calm breathing and the mumbles outside the office. She sighed for the nth time in the past five minutes, wishing for time to scoot along a little faster until her shift was over. She leaned forward on the desk, resting her head on her folded arms underneath and closed her eyes to nap the time off.

The nap worked to say the least. Sakura managed to sleep for a good three quarters of an hour before waking up. When she saw the time, she was pulled out of her sleepy stupor and yawned lazily and got up. She was a little more tired than she had thought, so she lost track of time when she only wanted to take a quick nap to pass the time, and for some reason, no one decided to let her know her shift was over.

With an exasperated sigh, Sakura gathered her things and left the hospital, signing out as she did so and went straight home to change. Ever since the accident, her body wasn't as fit as it was then, so she decided some exercising would do her some good.

As soon as she got home, Sakura changed out of her medic uniform and into something a little more flexible, so a skin-tight tank top and some shorts were perfect for the task. Sakura also took her medical pack with her for standard procedure in case she injured herself and needed some treatment done. After donning her training outfit and gear, Sakura took off, jogging towards the training grounds and doing some much-needed training to get her body up and running again.

The training grounds were muddy, which didn't surprise Sakura at all because of the past five weeks of rain. Not only that, but there was also evidence of recent training out on these fields because of the muddy skid marks and a few damaged trees and messy craters in the ground. Sakura could only barely make out where it was actually stable to walk on, so she ditched that part of the fields and moved over to a more secluded place where people rarely went to train because it was so far back. She felt it was a more suitable place to train, so she began with a few light jogs around the area to warm up, and then she did a few stretches and sprinted from one end of the field to the other before mud practically squirted from her footfalls and flicked all up the backs of her legs and some on her face. With a surprised gasp from the abrupt wetness on her now cool skin, she stopped, rolling her eyes and grunting at her now dirty attire

With a light shrug, Sakura carried on with her training; it wasn't like it was going to get any worse. Unfortunately for the pink haired Kunoichi, things were about to get worse. Not five minutes after the first mud incident, she slipped over and landed on her backside, flat on the muddy surface of now brown grass. With a few curses breathed out from her frustration, Sakura got up and smeared as much of it off as she could before continuing.

She then started with some basic chakra control to get her chakra signals flowing through her system properly. Now that every inch of her body had been warmed up, Sakura focused some chakra to her hands and prepared for some super human pounding. She directed her attack right into the ground, weakening it severely as the mud around her was thrown up in the air and cratered the hard earth underneath.

Now practically completely covered in mud, Sakura sighed to herself but resumed training and tried several other chakra involved techniques. She leapt from one tree to another to see how fast she could actually get from one place to the next using chakra. Using her mad ninja skills always came in handy even outside the battlefield, so she always wanted to stay in shape.

* * *

**Author's notes:** This chapter was probably a bit longer than most others, and I must remind you, the next chapter will probably be much shorter than this one. Now lets see...any favoured scenes...not really, just Ino and Sakura having their interesting Kakashi-involved talk. I suppose this chapter is mostly filler, but that only adds to the suspense for the next chapter :D.

Sakura: ooooh, the suspense is killing me already

Kakashi: yeah, I'm actually starting to wonder what's going to happen next

Sakura: yeah, but our author did mention a few things about the next few chapters

Kakashi: just don't spoil it, you know we hate spoilers

Sakura: pff, only you do

Kakashi: and the viewers and readers???

Sakura: oh...right

Kakashi: yeah, better recognise!!!

Sakura: (rolls eyes) anyway, hope you enjoyed this (filler) chapter

Kakashi: and be nice and leave us a review :D


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's notes:** okay, so here's the deal; because you guys are so patient with me updating late and all, I've decided to throw in the next chapter in early because one: the last chapter the rediculously longer than I had thought, and two: said chapter was a gay filler, so I'm treating you well for this :D. ::WARNING:: CONTAINS LEMONS, so keep the kiddies locked away, tied to the kitchen tops or out of the house for recommended safety. This is (personally) by far the best lemon scene I've written so far, but if it's crap, then give me a yell and I might consider editing it. If you guys don't like lemon scenes, skip it if you must, but you have been warned XD.

Kakashi: (reading Icha Icha Paradise) lemon huh?

Sakura: yup, so I suggest you be kind and put that smut novel away

Kakashi: and why should I do that?

Sakura: because the author went through a lot of hard work to get this chapter done

Kakashi: I'm sure I've read more graphic things than that (holds up Icha Icha)

Sakura: (rolls eyes) but still, just stop being a sissy and support her

Kakashi: (sighs) okay fine then

Sakura: great...enjoy the chapter XD

* * *

CHAPTER TWELVE: SURPRISES

After about two hours of vigorous training, Sakura called it a day and slowly exited the now demolished training fields and went on her merry way home. As she reached the busy parts of the village, the pink haired medic remembered something she had left behind at the office. She received a special folder about some of the medical research she started before her accident and wanted to take it home to read. Sakura also really appreciated Lee leaving her a rose on her desk to show he still cared for his cherry blossom, so she wanted to take that with her too.

Ignoring the many odd stares from the people around her as though she was just dug up from the ground, Sakura rushed her way to the hospital, wiping a smear of mud from her cheek and reached the front doors, and was greeted by one of the nurses behind the desk, who was reading a magazine with her feet kicked up on the tabletop and sucking on a lollipop. As soon as she saw Sakura's appearance through the door, she heaved her feet back onto the tiled floor and dumped the magazine under the desk and grabbed her pen to make it seem like she was working hard. Sakura knew that the nurse there wasn't doing what she was supposed to be doing, but her shift was long over, and she didn't want to have a yell at anyone at the moment.

Right now, all she needed was a shower.

She walked into her office and saw the rose still lying where she had left it when she first noticed it there and picked it up, smelling the sweet scent of the flower and grabbed the important medical folder with her and left the office. She stared at the folder for a minute as she walked to the exit and put it away in her medical bag she still had fastened to her hips.

As soon as she was outside, Sakura took in a deep breath and sighed heavily, "Sakura-chan…" a voice said from behind her. Sakura jumped at the voice, but was relieved it was someone she knew. And unfortunately it was someone she wasn't quite ready to see just yet.

"Kakashi…" she said evenly, trying very hard not to show how nervous she was about seeing him again.

Something about the silver haired Jounin seemed different today though; as though he had seen a new light during his absence. But, Kakashi only had one mission; it was only a full day trip to a nearby town and back, fought off a two-person ambush and came home safely.

"You're a mess," the man deadpanned, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walked alongside Sakura down the street.

"Thanks for noticing," she replied sarcastically.

"Training?"

"Yep."

Sakura hadn't realised they were walking together until a few paces later, "I should be going this way," she pointed to her left to another street, "it's faster that way to my place," somehow she didn't seem to notice how pleased Kakashi really was to see her, "my place is closer," he said nonchalantly, "you can shower there," he smiled. Sakura could all but shrug her shoulders at his offer and walked with him.

It was silent between them, and Sakura could smell the light scent of rain as it began to shower. With a sigh, Sakura felt the water droplets fall on her; she pretty much needed it anyway. Kakashi chuckled lightly to himself when he caught the expression of Sakura's irritated expression, "it's just rain Sakura-chan," he reassured her.

"Yeah, but it's not like we didn't have enough of that before," she glanced up at him and smirked.

Kakashi sighed, "true," he scratched the back of his head and silence ensued once again.

The rain got a little heavier as the two walked to Kakashi's home, and the Copy Nin saw Sakura shivering a little and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side as they walked. Sakura tensed at his touch, "you looked cold," he said plainly, but with a hint of care in his voice. Sakura relaxed her muscles against his warm frame, trying to stop herself from shivering in the rain.

The two sighed in unison, '_that was a little odd_,' Sakura thought, "umm, Sakura-chan," Kakashi started, pulling the woman from her thoughts, "about that morning," he didn't sound very glad bringing this subject up again as he looked anywhere but at Sakura.

'_Oh no, not this again_,' Sakura mentally whined; she couldn't bear hearing about that little scene again. Even coming from Kakashi, which only made things worse.

A few people passed them with umbrellas and rain coats on while Kakashi remained silent to keep the conversation private, "I'm sorry about what I did to you then," he breathed out, tensing up as he waited for a lecture from his former student. Upon receiving none, he became puzzled.

He glanced down at Sakura, who only smiled at him, "don't worry about it, Kakashi," '_yeah right, it__'__s a big deal and I__'__m telling _him _not to worry_,' she inwardly cursed, but maintained her composure with a smile.

"I didn't know what came over me, even though I said I was merely suppressing my urging desire-" he stopped, not knowing how it would turn out if he went on. And Sakura had a vague idea where, too.

Eyes widened, Sakura stared at him in disbelief and heard him curse lightly, "where are you getting at with this?" she had to know, and she wanted to, no, needed to know, so it would be much easier on her to express how she felt. Kakashi tensed up again as he tried to grasp at the words to say it, but he said nothing, he couldn't; his words just wouldn't come out. With his mind falling to pieces when trying to say something he usually wouldn't, the two fell in complete awkward silence as the rain came down, and Sakura was now caught in telling him either now or never.

"Kakashi, there's something I've been meaning to tell you," she started, taking in a shaky breath out of apprehension.

The silver haired man gave her an odd glance, not so sure where this was heading, "the truth is-" Sakura was unable to complete her sentence because Kakashi had grabbed her not so subtly and jumped off to another location. Sakura only then realised the explosion of kunai at where they stood. If it wasn't for Kakashi's keen senses, she would've been caught in that attack.

Kakashi gave Sakura a quick stare before facing the damage, as well as the several men standing in front of them, "finally," one said from behind them. Sakura turned around with her back now facing Kakashi's and realised it was Moyo, and this time he looked more prepared with all those other Shinobi around them. Sakura personally couldn't see whether they were Shinobi or not, but by the way they all posed like ninja, she guessed they were, unless they were all just posers.

"Not this again," Sakura groaned, though keeping her guard up.

"Don't let your guard down Sakura, who knows what they'll do this time," Kakashi warned, glaring at one of Moyo's thugs, who was pretty large and muscly, and wielded a massive axe.

Sakura nodded and the fight began. The two separated and leapt forward to take on an opponent. Kakashi was surrounded by many of Moyo's men and easily kicked them away. Sakura had a little more than Kakashi, but she could defend herself easily, if only she had her full chakra capacity, '_why is it always when I__'__m not at my full strength?_' she cursed inwardly as she socked a punch right into the nose of one of the bigger thugs and sent him crashing into a concrete wall behind him.

She glanced over at Kakashi, who was very occupied with his opponents and swung a leg clean over the large enemy. Within a split second, Sakura was hit hard in the gut and she landed on her back into a puddle. Now she was pissed. Rolling over to avoid a spear in the chest, Sakura got up at lightning speed and landed several blows to the man's torso and focused some of the chakra she had left over and aimed it right into the ground in front of the man's feet and three others joined him in between the large cracks in the ground.

Moyo stepped in after the majority of his followers had been taken down and pulled out his dart pipe and loaded a strong dosage of toxins to aim right at Kakashi to sedate him. He shot the dart and Sakura saw it coming. She pulled a kunai from her leg holster and ran in front of Kakashi. He barely saw the dart coming straight for him, but he was saved when sakura struck the dart away with her kunai and glared at Moyo, "not this time," she spat, glaring daggers at him before she caught someone coming in from her blind spot. She ducked and saw a leg go over her head and kicked the foe away. She hadn't realised Kakashi was still behind her and was giving her a hand.

The pink haired medic concentrated some more chakra to her hands and crawled a few steps under Kakashi and landed a punch straight into the other enemy's gut and he went flying. She got up and flipped over the silver haired man, kicking a spear away with ease as she landed next to Kakashi.

'_I have to tell him_,' Sakura said, glancing at him quickly.

'_I have to tell her_,' Kakashi clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white and they both simultaneously launched at Moyo.

They engaged in a series of kicks and punches and Moyo was barely able to fend them off before Sakura punched him in the cheek, knocking him off balance and Kakashi grabbed his arms and spun him around as quickly as he could and with a bit of chakra, the older Jounin sent him flying through the air and far away from the battle.

With a brief sigh of relief, Sakura looked over his shoulder and saw Kakashi kicking over the last remaining enemies, "here," she said, and with a chakra laden fist, she splintered the ground into pieces, scaring the living daylights out of Moyo's followers and they ran off, taking a few of the knocked out ones with them.

Sakura smirked proudly at the way she managed to scare off several tough looking guys with a single punch, but it was known for many to run from her super human strength. She panted heavily as she watched the last few run off with the little strength they had left. The medic took in a breath to calm her breathing and slumped forward, knowing that she was done for the day and there was no need to keep her guard up. With the rain still beating down on her, she let the water run down her face, a bit glad that most of the mud had finally been washed off during the fight.

Hearing footsteps splashing into puddles, Sakura turned around to only have Kakashi grab her by the upper arm with one hand, and with the other had, he tugged his mask down. It all happened so quickly that Sakura didn't have time to think, and before she knew it, Kakashi had his lips crushed against hers in a searing kiss.

Sakura was very surprised by his move, and only fluttered her eyes shut to enjoy the moment. Apparently kissing in the rain was very romantic. Sakura felt his hands snake around her waist and pull her soaking wet frame against his. The medic instinctively wrapped her arms around the man's neck to deepen the kiss. Kakashi ran his hands up and down her back, drawing circles along the small of her back before finally pulling away.

Kakashi could all but stare at her for at least a minute or so before he finally answered, "I've been wanting to tell you something for the past few days, but I never got the courage to say it," he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Sakura shook her head and cupped her hands on the older Jounin's cheeks, "I've actually been wanting to tell you something too," she mentioned, giving him a lopsided smile.

It was Kakashi's turn to shake his head and tucked a wet pink lock behind the medic's ear and smiled sheepishly, "I suppose that kiss pretty much answered it for the both of us," he breathed, leaning down to rest his forehead against hers.

Sakura smiled sweetly, "come on, lets get out of the rain before you catch another fever," Kakashi said, grabbing her hand and walking them to his house.

This had gone rather quick, and Sakura thought everything was going to come crashing down on her, and Kakashi would reject her. Everything sounded so difficult, but in actual fact it wasn't as hard as it seemed when the other party was in total agreement with the other. Sakura could all but sigh in relief now that the hard part was over.

They reached Kakashi's house not long after and the Copy Nin casually held the door open for Sakura and closed it softly. He brushed past the medic and made his way to the bathroom. Sakura soon followed him in and he promptly left with a towel in his hand, "I'll just get you something to wear for now," he called from the bedroom. Sakura had already turned the shower on when he came back in, staring at her for a minute before leaving the bathroom after handing her some of his old clothes to wear.

Sakura stripped down from her wet clothes and stood under the warm stream of water and sighed in bliss at the feeling of her body warming up. She hadn't realised she was shivering until she felt the water on her skin, and it felt so good to be clean again.

After fifteen minutes of washing up, Sakura exited the bathroom with a baggy black shirt on and three-quarter pants that looked more like regular pants for Sakura, but they were enough for her to stay warm for now until her other clothes dried.

She silently made her way into the living room where Kakashi sat, tending to a bloody cut in his arm, "Kakashi, you're hurt," she sounded like someone who rarely saw anyone injured before in her life, but it wasn't her fault; she just cared too much about her friends not to take any notice of it. She sat down next to the older Jounin and pulled his hand away from his bleeding shoulder. It was pretty deep too. Sakura hissed at the sight, but she brushed it off as her hands began to glow a faint blue from her chakra and placed them on the Copy Nin's left shoulder to mend the wound.

Kakashi stared at Sakura the entire time, unable to remove his gaze from her, and he didn't seem to be affected by pain or anything like that. He was just blankly staring at the pink haired blossom not to care about his own wellbeing.

"All done," Sakura smiled, rubbing the silver haired man's arm tenderly to make sure she healed the lot.

Kakashi was still staring at her, but this time he had a smile on his face, and a devilish one at that. Sakura didn't exactly like the look on his face, yet she found it very attractive, "has anyone ever told you how handsome you look without your mask," she mentioned, hoping to change the subject.

"Many times," he said plainly before capturing her lips with his in a passion filled kiss.

Sakura didn't object to his actions, nor did she pull away; she just wrapped her arms around his neck and let him roam his hands all over her. Kakashi slid his hands under the medic's loose shirt, running his hands up her bare back and back down and over her stomach. Sakura moaned against his touch and instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist and pressing her body closer to his.

Without breaking the kiss, Kakashi got up off the couch with Sakura's legs still wrapped around his waist and walked to his bedroom, where they would finish their 'business' on the bed. Kakashi pulled away briefly to both catch his breath and to lay Sakura down on her back, where he hung above her, his eyes looking up and down her body as though she was edible. He all but grinned as he leaned down to kiss her again. Licking the medic's lower lip for entrance, Sakura gladly parted her lips to let his tongue in. Their tongues battled for dominance, with Sakura having no such luck in taking over. Kakashi explored every part of her mouth, brushing his tongue delicately against hers, and was quickly rewarded with a moan from the medic beneath him after he had his hand run along her thigh and gave her backside a good squeeze.

Without breaking the kiss, Sakura felt her way to Kakashi's Jounin vest and quickly unzipped it, and promptly had the man remove it and tossed it carelessly aside. Kakashi moved along Sakura's neck and to her collarbone, leaving a wet trail of kisses as he went. He had one of his hands move up her baggy shirt, running his fingers ever so lightly over her stomach, while his other hand roamed its way in between her legs.

"You're a bit wet there, Sakura-chan," he said teasingly, ginning devilishly at the woman beneath him.

Sakura blushed at his comment, briefly remembering the last time he said that to her, but he knew he meant what he said this time. The Copy Nin slid his hand up to her waist, tucking his fingers playfully at the waistline of the pants, unzipping them slowly as he kept his eyes glued to hers to see if she really wanted this. With the lustful look in her emerald eyes, there was no mistaking she wanted this. Kakashi promptly reassured himself with that and pulled the fabric down over her knees and tossing those to wherever his vest was thrown and leaned over the medic again to kiss her passionately again. This time it was slow and sensual, as though he wanted it to last, and by what Sakura could feel from his touches and kisses, this man really wanted to savour the moment.

He pulled away for a moment, straddling her at the waist as he pulled his dark shirt over his head and threw it behind him and onto the floor by a chair. He unbuttoned his pants before Sakura pulled him back down for another searing kiss. This time, Kakashi was more demanding to his response than he normally was, and somehow it turned Sakura on more. Sakura felt Kakashi's hands go under her shirt again, grabbing the hem of it and pulling it up over her head to reveal her perky round breasts to him. Kakashi stopped to look her up and down, enjoying every moment of it. Sakura blushed and naturally she brought her arms to cover her chest, but Kakashi abruptly pulled her hands away and stared into her eyes, saying nothing until he leaned forward to her ear, "you have a beautiful body; don't hide it from me," he said in a low, husky and incredibly sexy voice.

The red colours appeared on her cheeks again, not quite sure how to react to his comment, but her thoughts were hazed again when she felt the man take her earlobe in his mouth, sucking it for a moment before trailing down her neck, kissing her fast pulse, and going down to her collarbone. Sakura's breathing became a little more erratic with Kakashi's hands going everywhere as well as his lips before her breath caught in her throat when she felt Kakashi press a finger against her panties at her hot entrance and elicited a soft moan and a whimper, arching her back at the new sensation.

With a satisfied grin from the woman's moan, he quickly removed his own pants to reveal nothing but his black boxer shorts and a growing erection. He grinned at the look on Sakura's face, but silenced any thoughts she wanted to bring up by taking a breast into his mouth, running his tongue over the hardened nipple, while massaging the other with his free hand. Sakura all but moaned at his gentle touch, feeling her heartbeat pulse faster and her body heating up, as well as the tingling sensation building up between her thighs. She felt her urge of fulfilling her need to grow stronger at every hot touch she received from the man, and her body begged for more out of her own accord.

Kakashi moved to the other breast, suckling gently while massaging the other like how he had before. Again, Sakura moaned softly, wanting to say something to him to do something more to her, but her words never left her mouth; the only noises she was able to produce was that of an incoherent moan and heavy pants.

Not a minute later, Kakashi resumed his playful teasing of kisses and went further down, over the woman's stomach, until he reached the edges of her panties, where he tugged on it with his teeth. He stopped his movements and actions, looking up to meet Sakura's flustered gaze. She looked so adorable from this angle. He remained focused on her stare as he slowly pulled her panties over her knees and threw them over his shoulder.

He grinned almost evilly at Sakura, whose eyes widened a little, having an idea of what he might do next. Kakashi placed his warm hands on her thighs, feeling her muscles tense against his touch and glided his hands over the smooth surface of her skin before leaning over her form and started planting soft kisses on her stomach again, heading further south.

Resting both hands on the medic's hips, drawing small circles to try and keep Sakura as calm as possible, the pink haired Kunoichi relaxed a little, but her heart was pounding with anxiety as she anticipated his next move. Kakashi moved his hands slightly along her thigh and parted her legs further, taking in the sight of the pink haired beauty before him; she was so beautiful, and every inch of her body was flawless. He leaned down in front of the silky pink curls, running his finger down and in between her slick and wet folds. Immediately, Sakura tensed up, not having ever experienced this type of intimacy before in her life, yet she found it the most erotic thing she felt. She moaned softly, feeling her heart pound in her ears and her breath quicken as the man stroked her tenderly.

"If you don't want to do this, just say the word and I'll stop," Kakashi assured, but the tone of his voice had said otherwise.

Sakura shook her head, panting slightly at his touches, "no, don't stop," she breathed under a moan. Kakashi could only grin at her direct answer and slid a finger into her, causing Sakura's breath to catch in her throat as she felt a new wave of pleasure wash over her. Kakashi locked gazes with Sakura as he slid his finger in and out of her, watching her expression ease and feeling her body adjust to his finger.

"You're so tight Sakura-chan," Kakashi almost growled when he said that.

Sakura moaned when he inserted a second finger, moving with the same rhythm as before, and then speeding up a little. Sakura felt her body heat up all the more and her breathing becoming erratic as she felt herself climax. With another loud moan, her muscles tightened around his fingers, shaking slightly as she did so.

Now satisfied with his work, Kakashi grinned, watching Sakura slowly recover from her orgasm. Without a second's hesitation, Kakashi plunged his tongue into her, while massaging her inner thighs to keep her at ease. Sakura bucked at the more intense feeling and was slightly surprised and shocked that Kakashi had his tongue in her. But that didn't mean she didn't enjoy every minute of it. She writhed against his touches, his caresses, and now his plain existence alone would send her over the edge.

She moaned again and again as Kakashi stroked her with his tongue, making her reach another climax, "oh my god…" she managed to breathe out, but barely understandable in her condition for Kakashi to hear her.

Sakura moaned one last time before her juices practically leaked from her, panting heavily as she did so. She felt Kakashi lick her clean before something in her head snapped, "I want you Kakashi," she moaned almost desperately. Kakashi could all but grin, wiping the wetness from his mouth as he pulled himself up so he was now hanging over Sakura. Kakashi was immediately brought back to their last moment together the last time she was here at his home, shortly after leaving him of course.

He grinned at her very flustered face as she gave him a pleading look. Kakashi leaned down and kissed her hungrily, his hands roaming her body. Sakura didn't pull away when she tasted herself; she was too caught up in the moment, that she didn't give a damn.

"I want you in me Kakashi," she panted while Kakashi was kissing her neck.

Sitting up momentarily, Kakashi teasingly pulled his boxer shorts down slowly, watching Sakura's reaction when she saw him in all his naked glory and fully aroused. Kami he looked good. Sakura was a bit anxious when she noticed the sheer size of _him _and pondered over the next moment. Kakashi leaned over her again, kissing her softly, to gently put her at ease as he pressed his hardened length at her hot entrance.

"You ready?" he asked, staring straight into her green eyes.

Sakura gave the man an assuring nod, which gave Kakashi the signal to continue. With a quick thrust, he entered her, releasing Sakura of her virginity. She only felt a slight sting, but it was promptly washed away when Kakashi moved out and back in again. Kakashi looked her in the eye, searching for any signs of discomfort. To his relief, he saw none and proceeded, kissing her softly as he moved in and out of her.

Sakura felt the new sensation build up as he thrusted deeper with every stroke and moaned softly. Without breaking the rhythm, Kakashi leaned down to kiss Sakura softly, sending her all the passion he had for her, before he trailed his wet kisses down her neck while steadily picking up the pace.

The pink haired medic's moans became louder and more demanding than before. She arched her back against the man on top of her and wrapped her legs around his waist for better access, "deeper," she whispered under another moan, and for that, Kakashi complied, thrusting deeper with now slow and sensuous strokes. Sakura felt her body burn with desire and pure pleasure as Kakashi picked up the pace again. Kakashi had to maintain his control, and make sure he wouldn't lose his mind and completely take advantage of his little cherry blossom and pound into her. He kept to a steady rhythm, going faster and faster after a short period of time.

By now, Sakura was on the verge another orgasm, and she started to move her hips against Kakashi, grinding to make it even more pleasurable for both of them. She succeeded in making it more satisfying when she received a groan from the man above her, who was picking up speed now. Sakura was now covered in sweat and so was Kakashi, and they exchanged moans and groans as both were reaching their climax. The medic thread her hands through Kakashi's damp and silver hair, running her hands down and back up his well toned arms and down his back, gliding her nails over the sweaty surface.

Kakashi groaned again, grinning devilishly as he kissed her, before Sakura had arched her back into him once again and screamed his name aloud. Her walls tightened around the man's member as he too lost himself in pleasure.

Kakashi felt Sakura's body pump him of all his seed and thrusted a few last times before collapsing next to her, his arm draped over her hot body to pull her close to him and panting heavily. Sakura dragged herself so the top half of her body was resting on top of Kakashi and she smiled tiredly at the man. Kakashi gladly returned the smile and kissed her sweetly as he pulled a blanket over their bodies.

"Wow…" Sakura managed to say after collecting her thoughts.

There was a masculine laugh from Kakashi as he had his arms wrapped loosely around her frame, "you were protected, right?" he just had to ask. Sakura rose a pink brow, a bit bewildered at the fact that Kakashi decided to ask her _after _the event.

"Of course I am," she said dully, looking up to meet his hooded stare and giggled at his relief.

They shared another kiss before they felt sleep wash over them. They fell into a comfortable sleep with their limbs tangled with each other's, and for the first time in a long time, Kakashi was genuinely happy. Not because he got laid with the prettiest girl in Konoha, but because that particular girl - no, woman, cared greatly for him, and because they saw each other as equals and not as something to have a screw with and then never see each other again.

Kakashi smiled at that, and with that smile permanently glued to his features, the silver haired man closed his eyes and allowed sleep to consume him, dreaming peacefully of whatever he wanted to dream of, as the rain beat down on the village in the background.

* * *

**Author's notes:** ahem...well there you have it, chapter twelve; the lemon chapter. I'm not sure yet if there will be more of el porni, but we'll just see what happens and where the plot takes us. I don't have much else to say, other than saying if you guys didn't like the lemon, well too bad then. I also want to thank everyone again for reviewing and leaving behind so many comments on this fic; even the C2 made my day. But I still don't know one thing...what's a C2???

Kakashi: (blush) well...

Sakura: now was that wasn't so bad now was it

Kakashi: Nah...I've read worse

Sakura: year right...you're blushing

Kakashi: no I'm not (crosses arms)

Sakura: yeah hahaha, that sex scene effected you

Kakashi: and you. You're blushing too

Sakura: (blushes more) shut up...but that's only because it involved the both of is having a bang

Kakashi: well since you put it that way...I don't think I'll be reading Icha Icha Paradise for the next few weeks until I recover from this chapter

Sakura: Omg hahaha, you're such a sissy when it comes to lemon

Kakashi: says you, I've gotten used to graphic scenes

Sakura: but not this one I see

Kakashi: .........................BUT THAT'S BECAUSE IT HAS A SEX SCENE OF US!!!

Sakura: yeah...anyway, lets just get this over with

Kakashi: okay then: hope you enjoyed this chapter

Sakura: and we'll have the next one posted as soon as Kakashi recovers from his nosebleed (grins)

Kakashi: Hey...not fair


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's notes**: okay, I'm _really_ sorry for being so late to update; I've had so many things in the way...mostly public holidays and family things, so I wasn't able to update when I wanted to, and I was still trying to make this chapter long enough to send in here. But anyhow, I just want to wish you a late Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Actually I would have uploaded this on the 16th, but it was my birthday and all my friends were at my place, so I couldn't get around to it :S. But here I am though, saving your ass from utter boredom. I'm really sorry you had to wait so long, but here it is, enjoy ;)

Kakashi: about bloody time

Sakura: aw calm down Kakashi, at least she updated

Kakashi: guess so

Sakura: so anyway, you think it'll be any good?

Kakashi: (shrugs) Dunno, but I hope so

Sakura: (rolls eyes) fair enough

Kakashi: (smiles) well, happy birthday for Yan ^_^

Sakura: yeah :)

Kakashi: but lets not hold up the readers anymore

Sakura: right, well, we hope you enjoy ^_^

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: GOODBYE FOR NOW

Sakura woke up for a start, feeling the bed rather spacious and…empty. She was surprised, and was instantly wondering where Kakashi had gone. She had a vague thought that he took off, leaving her alone, but that couldn't be it, not after the oh-so wonderful events of last night. She sat up, remembering what happened the night before and smiled, though blushing a deep scarlet, but brushed it off with a shrug as she had to take notice that this would probably happen more often with her new lover.

For than she grinned.

The sound of running water caught her attention and saw the door was open and so was the bathroom. She realised Kakashi was taking a shower, which obviously explained his absence, and so a devious thought came to mind. With a cheeky smile, Sakura got up, ignoring the fact that she was stark naked and silently made her way into the bathroom. Opening the door wider to get a better view, she caught sight of Kakashi's figure behind the shower curtain and smiled. From what she could tell, he had his back facing her and had his hands busily stuck in his hair to wash it.

The pink haired medic brushed past the curtains and stepped into the shower, staring expectantly at Kakashi's back, who still hadn't taken any notice of her presence. She slid her hands up the man's back and over his shoulders, and Kakashi now noticed her being there.

He seemed almost unfazed by the semi-surprise of Sakura creeping up behind him, yet he had a pleasing smile on his handsome face, "morning," he said casually, with watered shampoo running down the side of his face. Sakura smiled back sweetly, wiping the shampoo from his face before replying, "morning, I see you decided to take a shower without me," she said, expecting him to feel a little guilty.

Kakashi chuckled lowly, "who said you aren't now?" he said as he slid his arms around the Kunoichi's waist and pulling her flush against him.

Sakura giggled, "and besides, you looked so adorable when you slept; I didn't want to wake you," the Copy Nin said, nuzzling the medic's neck and giving her sweet kisses along her neck.

The pink haired medic rolled her eyes, "I'll accept that excuse," they shared a quick kiss before Kakashi rinsed the shampoo from his hair and proceeded to wash Sakura. As Sakura allowed her lover to bathe her, she moaned softly at the sensation of clean skin, as well as having Kakashi's hands travelling all over her naked body. Sakura hummed in bliss, before she remembered something, "by the way, I still have one of your shirts at my house," she said plainly, smirking at the taller Jounin before her.

"Really? Hmm, I suppose I should stop by at some point to pick it up," he suggested to no one in particular, and grinned down at his little cherry blossom.

* * *

An hour had passed after their shower and Sakura was just about to leave the house again, "I'll see you this afternoon then," she said, running her hands through Kakashi's unruly silver hair.

Kakashi smiled and kissed her softly on the lips, "sure," he nuzzled her neck before letting Sakura go to the hospital for work and he went the other way after hoisting his mask up. The weather was finally better today, except for the odd breeze, but other than that it a great winter's day.

Sakura had made her way almost hastily to the hospital, knowing that she was at least an hour or so late. Had Sakura built up some form of reluctance to stop Kakashi playing with her in the shower, she would already be at the hospital doing her work. Kakashi just had to be the possessive one this morning and hold her up…maybe this would happen more than once if she stayed with him every single night…

As soon as Sakura entered the building, she was welcomed by Shizune, who seemed to be expecting her at the time, "Sakura-san," she said in a professional tone and approached the pink haired Kunoichi.

Sakura immediately rose her hands in defence and struck out the first excuse that came to her head, "I'm sorry I'm so late; you see I-" she was abruptly cut off by Shizune, "don't worry about that Sakura-san, there's something else," she said, rolling her eyes at Sakura's blatant excuse to get out of a yelling fit from Tsunade.

"What's up, Shizune-sama?" she asked, wiping the non-existant sweat from her face.

"Tsunade-shishou wants to see you now," the older woman nudged Sakura toward the Hokage's office.

Sakura was thoroughly confused at the moment. Had she died at some period of time recently, or was this just something that happened when you're late for only half an hour? So if Kakashi would miss heaps after being fifteen minutes late, imagine all the things he would receive after being three hours late. Sakura shook her head from all her thoughts and entered Tsunade's office.

"Sakura-san," the Hokage began, putting her work aside to put her full attention on her apprentice.

"Tsunade-sama, I know I was late, but you see I was in a-" Sakura wasn't able to complete her sentence when said Hokage rose her finger to cease her from talking, "it's alright, it's not about the fact that you're late," she reassured.

Okay, so if it didn't have to do with Sakura's tardiness, then something else was up, yet Tsunade being so laid back about her being late didn't make sense; she must've been either drunk, or in a very good mood. Sakura decided on the latter.

"The reason you were called here is for an emergency A-Rank mission," Tsunade deadpanned, "I'm assigning you on a solo medical emergency to Suna."

Sakura's eyes widened. This was the first mission in a long time, and it's an A-Rank to Suna. Whatever the reason, it was most likely very important, "a mission?" she asked, hoping to get the full detail out of the question. Tsunade picked up a scroll and held it up for Sakura to see, "there was an epidemic breakout in the Sand, and they don't have enough medical personnel to deal with the problem, so they asked for the best medics our village has to offer, and they want you to help," the hazel eyed woman explained, "they want you there as soon as you can, so I'm discharging you immediately from your work at the hospital. I've already arranged with the hospital staff that you will be gone on the mission, so they've already sorted out who will be taking your shifts. I've also calculated that you will be there for at least a month, perhaps even longer until the illness is gone from the village."

The pink haired medic felt her stomach do a quick flip at the information, "a month or more?" it wasn't how long she'd be busy helping people at Suna, but more like how long she'd be away from Kakashi for. It stabbed her like a the sharpest blade, and she only just got with the Copy Nin, and now she had to leave him.

Tsunade nodded, sensing Sakura's distress and sighed, "I've noticed you don't exactly enjoy the feeling of leaving the village, not to mention leaving the man you love," that was it, Sakura was caught. But was she _that _obvious that she could just see it? Maybe it was the smell of Kakashi on her that gave it away. She was sure she had absentmindedly lifted her arm to take a whiff of the smell. Either way, Tsunade knew what Sakura was so upset about, and Sakura had a good idea that she also knew why she was late.

'_Curse that man__…_' Sakura mentally said, frowning at her loss.

"Don't worry Sakura-san, I'll make sure he stays nice and busy while you're gone," she beamed at her student, reassuring the medic.

Sakura smiled, though a fake one, but she tried to stay positive, "you are to pack yourself to last several weeks, so I won't hold you up much longer. Here's the scroll with any extra information you may want," she tossed the scroll at Sakura, who easily caught it and stared at it for a moment, thinking about her possibilities.

"Okay, I'll go as soon as I can," Sakura said, bowing to the Hokage as she took her leave.

Once she shut the door, she just stood there for a moment and thought about the mission, '_I won__'__t be able to see Kakashi until then__…_' she sighed softly to herself, tightening her hold on the scroll before making her way down the hallway of the hospital and exited the building to go find Kakashi.

* * *

Sakura scouted the village, starting from her neighbourhood, and then Kakashi's house. He wasn't there either. Sakura was starting to worry that she wouldn't be able to say goodbye to him, but she shook those thoughts aside and ran down the street and headed straight for the training fields.

She dashed through the streets, keeping a quick eye out for anyone with unruly silver hair who happen to be in her line of sight. She felt a slight twinge in her heart at the thought of not being able to see Kakashi one last time before going on her mission. Her mission was most likely more important than her love life, but Sakura needed this. Just this once. She reached the training fields quickly, feeling the grass squish beneath her shoes as she walked from the heavy downpour recently. It wasn't raining heavily like always, only a light shower, but Sakura realised she came up short here too when she only discovered Lee and Gai training together. They didn't notice her presence, and Sakura preferred to keep it that way and took off not a moment sooner down a muddy path on her right surrounded by tall trees.

Where she was heading was no more than a quick visit to the memorial stone, '_he has to be here_,' she thought to herself as the dark stone was in full sight.

No one there. Damn.

Sakura cursed inwardly, her brows furrowing in disappointment. She was really starting to lose patience in searching, but she still had a few more places to look before she would give up on the whole thing. After standing in front of the stone for about a minute to both gaze upon the names of those heroes who gave their lives for the village and to catch her breath, she was on the move again.

The pink haired Kunoichi checked the bar, only to stumble upon Genma, "hey, Sakura-chan, haven't seen you in a while," he said, trying to be oh-so very casual with her, "heard you were well taken care of by Kakashi," he made a few explicit gestures with his hands to show what he really meant by that double-meaning. Sakura merely rolled her eyes at the letch's actions and ignored the comment.

"Have you seen Kakashi?" she asked, cutting straight to the point of her being here in the first place.

Genma moved his senbon from one corner of his mouth to the other, "hmm, nope, sorry, haven't seen him today," he took a swig of his sake and beamed at the medic, "care to join me?" he asked casually with a sly grin on his features and held up his shot of his rice wine.

"Sorry, no time," she said hurriedly and took off without giving the letch a chance to say something and went straight to the Jounin Headquarters to see if Kakashi would be hiding there.

Again, no Copy Nin in sight.

Sakura growled in frustration and walked out of the building after asking several other Jounin where the aloof man could be, not to mention all the questions she was being asked about her being nursed by the famous Sharingan Warrior. With an exasperated sigh, the medic walked almost miserably down the street, until a thought came to mind.

"Now I've got it."

* * *

After a quick dash to the other half of the village, Sakura made it to her destination. Of all places, the pink haired Kunoichi never considered looking _here_. She rolled her eyes at that and sprang up the steps and to the front door. Pulling out the keys from her pocket, Sakura unlocked the door to her house and stepped inside. It was dark, and very much vacant. She couldn't sense his chakra signal anywhere and he wasn't hiding anywhere in the building.

Another growl, and Sakura admitted defeat. She'd been running all morning to only end up empty handed and decided to start packing now.

After half an hour of packing, Sakura sat miserably on her bed, stuffing several shirts and shorts into her bag, readying herself for the upcoming mission. Not a moment later, Sakura had packed all her things and was just sitting on her bed, staring vacantly at her belongings as if it wasn't even hers and sighed again.

"Better get going then," she muttered and carried her things to the door.

Giving her house a once over, Sakura shut the door behind her, locking it before taking her leave to the main village gates. She paced slowly to Konoha's exit, giving her plenty of time to ponder over anything she might've missed on her list of things to take. Toothbrush, hairbrush, hair ties to keep her hair out of her face while she worked, her medical kit, clothes for all climates just in case…Sakura sighed again that same minute and before she knew it, she was at the gates.

The gates were wide open, and towered high over her, as if they were built to welcome a huge monster or something, unless the Kyuubi attack back then counted, but probably not.

Izumo and Kotetsu were lazily sitting at the desk, playing a quick game of cards, when they were supposed to be keeping watch of whoever entered or exited the village on a daily basis.

"Forgetting something?" a very familiar voice asked from behind.

Sakura jumped at the masculine voice, even though she knew who it was, "I was looking all over for you," she said simply, turning around and giving the man a stern look while prodding his vest-clad chest.

"Really?" he quirked an eyebrow in thought.

Sakura pouted, softening her gaze all the more, "yes," she breathed out softly, looking down and rubbing her own arm, "I'm going on a mission, and I won't see you for at least a month or more, and…" she gave up then, it was clearly obvious how stressed she was already, and she hadn't even left the village yet.

Kakashi placed his gloved finger under the medic's chin and lifted it to meet her frowned expression, "I understand you have to leave," he started, tilting his head to the side a little as he spoke, "but that doesn't mean we won't see each at all anymore."

Sakura brightened up a little, but not enough for her to be completely happy again. She let her head fall and rest against Kakashi's chest, closing her eyes. She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her shoulders and pull her closer to the man's hard frame. She smiled softly, bringing her arms around his waist and looking off to the side, listening to Kakashi's steady heartbeat, soothing her somewhat, "I'll miss you…" she mumbled, taking in a deep breath.

Kakashi chuckled softly, "I'll miss you too, but you know I'll always be here for you, and I'll be waiting until you return," he reassured, resting his chin atop her head and grinning.

Sakura squeezed her lover a little, tightening the hug just a bit before letting go, looking up at the man she loved. He gave her a reassuring eye crease and she smiled back sweetly after the man gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. She desperately sought to keep her tears from falling, and practically held her breath to prevent herself from balling her eyes out in front of Kakashi.

She had to stay strong.

Kakashi, having noticed all too well that Sakura was having a hard time saying goodbye, smiled warmly at her, "you'll be fine, Sakura, I'm not going anywhere," he chuckled softly as he playfully ruffled the medic's pink haired, causing said Kunoichi to pout in irritation and she swatted his hand away.

Sakura gazed into his lone onyx eye and saw the love he had for her. She smiled back, knowing the Copy Nin was right and they shared one last hug, "I'll be back as soon as I can," she mumbled into his chest.

They parted and Sakura glanced once more before facing the road behind her and taking in a strong breath and walking through the gates of the village and into the world beyond. Kakashi watched as Sakura reluctantly walked away from him, and a small smile tugged on the corner of his mouth, knowing that Sakura would come back to him, that she would be okay, that she would save the village and complete the mission.

"Sayonara, Sakura-chan," he said offhandedly into the wind.

The pink haired medic turned around, and couldn't help but look back at her lover and waved as his words carried through the light breeze and to her ears. With a deep sigh, Sakura focused on the road ahead, and put the mission to the foreground of her mind.

After a few paces, the medic looked over her shoulder, and found Kakashi was no longer there and sighed to herself, '_Kakashi__…_' she inwardly muttered, frowning a little once more and walked on.

The next few days alone would be very frustrating for Sakura, and with Kakashi not authorised to come with her - most likely for good reason - Sakura would be pretty lonely without him. And what had only recently occurred to her was how much Kakashi really meant to her, and probably how much she meant to him as well. Sakura giggled at that, and smiled at how ridiculous it all sounded at the beginning, but how true it had become. Sure, Kakashi is fourteen years her senior _and _was her sensei in the past, but heck that didn't stop the little harmless feelings from brewing every now and then. She threw caution to the wind and went with whatever she decided was best for her.

There was a long silence, with only the cicadas in the background humming away before Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. She didn't move for what seemed like forever, and then she managed to vocalise what had built up over that silence.

"Oh _balls_!" she cursed aloud, stomping her foot into the ground and made a small crater when doing so.

Of all the things she had done, and everything she had went through with Kakashi, she had forgotten the most important thing (to her) to say to Kakashi.

'_Well it__'__s too late now__…_' Sakura sighed audibly as she shuffled her feet along to move ahead, sulking as she walked.

Kicking a stone in her path, Sakura immediately felt this day had been crap to say the least. Not to mention a bit disappointing. How could she forget to tell him that one important phrase; even though it was probably one of the most overused, clichéd statement ever, but Sakura almost felt empty after realising she hadn't said it to him.

The medic looked up at the grey sky and sighed once more, '_how could I forget to tell Kakashi that I love him__…__?_' she groaned at herself at this, "great, now I have to wait two bloody months to tell him that…but I hope it's worth the wait," she assured herself and pumped a fist at her side, determined to stay strong through this mission. It was very important after all, and thinking about someone who is only two day's travel away would distract her from her work.

After half the day had passed, not a single drop of rain had been caught in the act that afternoon, in which Sakura was relieved, because she didn't exactly want it to rain, what with the distance remaining of her journey to Sunagakure.

* * *

Kakashi sighed for the nth time those past five minutes. After Sakura had left, the Copy Nin had been quieter than usual and very bored. Okay, if Kakashi could get any quieter it would be beyond anyone who knew him well. He rarely said a word on a daily basis around his drinking buddies and other acquaintances, and when he spoke, it was either dry criticism or some sort of vague advise he would usually give to his team.

He sat in his apartment, listening to the soft ticking of his clock in the kitchen and stared absentmindedly at one of his Icha Icha books. It was then something had decided to happen in that time and for that the silver haired man was mildly grateful.

As the knocking on the door stopped, he heard a young teenage voice beyond said door and he knew exactly who it was, "Kakashi-sensei, are you there?" he said.

Kakashi opened the door to find none other than Konohamaru, looking a little drained from most likely running here, "what is it Konohamaru-kun?" asked Kakashi, cutting straight to the point.

Said teen let out a long breath and finally answered, "whew…Granny Tsunade wants to see you, now," he gave the older man a pointed look, hoping he got the information through to the usually stoically stubborn man.

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and reached for the boy and ruffled his hair playfully, "thanks, I'll be right over," Konohamaru pouted and moved his head from his hand, giving him a quick smile before taking off down the road and onto the rooftops of the neighbourhood.

The day had been quite calm; no rain - yet - and only a breeze here and there, but nothing to write home about. As he shut the door, Kakashi grabbed his latest copy of the Icha Icha series and put on his Jounin vest which he had discarded the second he got home before and put on his shoes. Locking his door behind him, the Copy Nin strolled down the street, looking around the beaten buildings of the recent storm. For some reason, he could sense another one coming soon, but it was best not to dwell on the thought of it.

Minutes later had brought him to the Hokage Tower and Kakashi was beginning to wonder why Tsunade would send Konohamaru to go fetch him…but then again, the Hokage wasn't going to go find him herself, that wouldn't be such a wonderful idea considering the amount of work she must be catching up on.

Brushing that thought aside for the time being, Kakashi trekked up the several flights of stairs, his precious smut in hand but not reading it for some reason. Whenever Kakashi was in distress, or he had something major on his mind, he wouldn't be reading his book. That's when it occurred to him that he definitely felt out of place today; not because he wouldn't see his precious Sakura for the next few months, but that he felt that he had forgotten something rather important.

Whatever it was, it had him worried. Kakashi never forgot anything important, but this was ridiculous.

Kakashi didn't bother knocking when he reached Tsunade's office and walked up to the desk where said Hokage was busily working through overdue paperwork and mission scrolls.

There was a brief moment of silence before Tsunade put her pen down and stared sternly at the elite Jounin before her, "are you alright?" she asked, the tiniest trace of concern present in her voice.

Kakashi shrugged, having not dwelled on that question on his way here, "honestly, I'm not really sure. I suppose I'm okay I guess…yeah," his unsure answer made the hazel eyed woman sigh, "not to worry Kakashi, Sakura-san is in good hands in Suna; she'll be fine," she pulled the best smile she could, "she'll be back before you know it."

Even though Tsunade's words sounded definite, but to Kakashi's ears, he still didn't feel so peachy. Nevertheless, the man tried to lighten up by forcing the Hokage's words to reassure him and sighed.

He could cope with Sakura gone for a while, and within that time, he can focus on a few other things, such as a new Gennin team perhaps, or some much-needed training and spars with Gai even.

"Just picture it as a small vacation from your former students; you deserve a break every now and then," Tsunade added shortly after seeing Kakashi's face - or the visible part of it - show hope in this situation.

It was true, Kakashi had never really taken a vacation. He could probably say that leaving ANBU at age twenty to become a fulltime Jounin teacher would be vacation, but he assumed that wouldn't count. The man had never taken a few weeks off to relax at a resort, so why not start now?

As crazy as it may sound to the most sane people on the planet, Kakashi had a love life, and in fact, Kakashi had fallen madly in love with Sakura, and had been so ever since the pink haired Kunoichi had been promoted to Jounin. The moment she had told him they were equals now, and no longer student and teacher - even though she often called him "sensei" - Kakashi had this thought of a possible future together, which to him at the time would be impossible, but now it didn't seem so bad anymore.

He smiled at the Hokage, "you're right, Tsunade-sama, I think all I need right now is some time to myself," he said, sighing softly as he bowed his respect to the Hokage and took his leave.

Once he shut the door on his way out, he froze in mid-step, realisation finally dawned on him for the reason why he was so tense and worried these past few hours.

He fiercely slapped his forehead with his hand and let it slide down, dragging his mask down as he did so, and groaned miserably, "aw bloody hell…" he cursed aloud. Thankfully no one was around at the time to witness both Kakashi mask-less in an almost public area and openly cursing.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck…" he cursed as he made his way down the stairwell, missing a few steps; not caring who heard him or who saw him.

Now he really wished he was able to go back in time to when Sakura was saying goodbye to him. If only…

How could he be so stupid? Now Kakashi would have to wait until Sakura returned to tell her he loved her.

* * *

**Author's notes:** I remembered while I was working on the bit where Sakura and Kakashi said their goodbyes, that I had forgotten to put the little bit where they said how much they loved each other...but then a thought dawned on me; why not have them completely flip over the fact that they forgot to confess their love properly. It seemed like a great idea to me, and I decided to add just the tad bit of humour under that. Kakashi freaking out...and not reading Icha Icha? The world must be coming to an end :P. Lol, well I hope you enjoyed this chapter...though it was probably a bit of a filler...you tell me. I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can, and hopefully not as late as this chapter. Again, I apologise for not updating any sooner, but hopefully this makes up for it :). The unfortunate part of this chapter is that we are nearing the end of the story :(, and I can probably guess you all know the reason why that is.

Kakashi: me? Freaking out? No way

Sakura: it's possible...if you don't fear anything, you wouldn't really be human

Kakashi: ......point taken, but I don't fear so much, or at least openly show I'm freaking out

Sakura: so....you would be shitting yourself inside?

Kakashi: something like that :P

Sakura: (rolls eyes) well I've got a feeling the end is going to be really good

Kakashi: it should...shouldn't it?

Sakura: yeah, but I mean something like...unexpectedly good

Kakashi: oh...kay, doesn't really make much difference but okay

Sakura: ^_^ anyway, hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter :)

Kakashi: yeah, please be sure to leave a review or two afterwards ;)


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's notes**: YES! ABOUT FRIGGIN' TIME!!! Yes, it's finally here, chapter fourteen; I'm _**so**_, bloody, sincerely, profusely and utterly sorry it took me so long to get this up, but I finally did it (cheering in backgound). Umm, I think this chapter is a bit shorter than the rest, but I just didn't know what else to write about this one, so sorry if it's not as exciting as the rest.

Kakashi: woohoo, chapter up!

Yan: yeah I know, isn't it great?

Kakashi: yeah, you finally got this chapter out of the way

Yan: yup, and hopefully I have the following chapter uploaded not long after

Kakashi: fingers crossed that you get good feedback from this chapter.

Yan: yeah (sighs)

Kakashi: well, enjoy everyone ^_^

* * *

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: JOURNEY

It had been a rough three weeks, but Sakura had managed to clear several areas of the epidemic. The unfortunate part of it was that people were still getting ill and she didn't know what the source was.

She was in great hands in Suna; she had plenty of help from other medical specialists and with the authorisation from Gaara, Sakura was able to access the history of all medical files that dated back long before Sakura's great grandparents had lived through childhood.

Gaara had been extremely grateful - though he didn't show it - that Tsunade was so willing to send Konoha's best medic to Suna to help them out. Sakura was given first class accommodation in the village; living in the Kazekage's dorm tower until she was finished with her job. Even though Sakura had plenty to do in the village and was well focused on her job, she missed Kakashi terribly. The medic wasn't even sure if Kakashi had realised she hadn't told him how much she loved him, and it was actually starting to worry her.

Shaking her head, the pink haired medic looked over her chart board and then at her patient. She'd been with him for two hours now and things weren't looking any better than she was hoping. The poor child was found having a seizure in his bedroom when his parents were out; the neighbours heard all the commotion and he was brought to the hospital straight away.

At the moment, he was stable, which was a good sign, Sakura just needed to find the problem. Staring at the sleeping boy, she placed her hand on his forehead and allowed some of her chakra to pass through to scan for any internal problems. Somehow this illness that was going around the village caused nausea, headaches, muscle pains and the worst cases were seizures and even heart attacks, leading to death eventually. Thankfully the sickness was a slow acting disease, and only three have been recorded dead due to the result of the illness within the past month. But three deaths wasn't something to take lightly, so Sakura had to work quickly to help all these sick people.

The best way to stop everyone from getting sick was to keep a thorough eye on each and every one of them to see what they do everyday. There was one person who was being watched, but not in the creepy way most would assume. His name was Arashi; he had a younger sister and he was about the same age as Sakura, probably a little older. She noticed the very light symptoms when he came in to bring his sister in. He was feeling light-headed at the time and his arm was aching for no reason. That was when Sakura decided to check up on him regularly to see how he progressed.

It was almost her time to go see Arashi, and she was almost finished scanning the young boy. He must've had a bit of head trauma, because his brain didn't seem all that healthy.

"Tsuki-san," Sakura called to the door.

Immediately a nurse walked in, "yes, Sakura-san?" she looked at Sakura's patient and sighed sympathetically.

The pink haired Kunoichi smiled, "can you keep an eye on this one for a while? I really don't mean to leave you with all these favours, but I need to check something important," she frowned, writing down a few notes for Tsuki before taking her leave, along with her large medical bag.

Taking a quick dash down the main hallway of the hospital, she reached the entrance, where she put her temporary status to "away" for the meantime and exited the hospital and casually made her way down the sandy streets of the village until she reached a specific apartment complex. Treading the staircase, Sakura reached the door with number fifteen on it and knocked on the door, "Arashi-san?" she said softly.

Something hard hit the floor on the other side, causing Sakura to jump, "Arashi?" she tried again. There was a muffled and disgruntled groan before she heard, "come in." Sakura entered, cautiously taking in her surroundings. She swung the door wide open to find Arashi lying flat on the ground next to his couch.

"Arashi-san, are you alright?" she rushed to the man's aid.

Said man lifted his head and grinned sheepishly at the medic, "yeah, I'm okay, I just fell off the couch," she gave a half-hearted chuckled before he winced. Sakura shook her head as she helped the man up and sat him on the couch, "you should be more careful, Arashi-san."

Arashi rubbed his right arm painfully, "yeah I know, Sakura-chan, but you know me, clumsy as always," he smiled at her. Sakura sighed, knowing she could never get through to this man. She gave him a once over to see what was different about him from yesterday. His dark brown hair was dishevelled and his ponytail was out of place. He was a bit paler than the previous day, and he looked tired.

Smiling reassuringly at the man, Sakura pulled out her notepad from her medical bag and a pen from her pocket, "so tell me, Arashi-san, did anything odd happen?" Kami, she sounded like a detective trying to get information out of a suspect.

The dark haired man shrugged, "well, after you left yesterday, I took a nap, and when I woke up I decided to eat something; I remember you telling me to try and eat. When I forced a sandwich down, I got sick, instantly." Sakura noted down everything he was saying, and she frowned deeper whenever Arashi mentioned a clue to another symptom.

"What else?" she knew this wasn't the entire story.

"After I got ill in the bathroom I was tired again and my arm was throbbing," Arashi gestured to his arm, "I've been sleeping on the couch for most of the day with a stomach ache and sore muscles, and when you arrived just now, I was having a little nap. When I got up to open the door for you, my legs gave out, hence the position I was in when you came in."

Sakura nodded, writing more and sighed, "let me check your pulse," she reached out for his left wrist and felt his pulse beating quite fast. No wonder he was so tired. His body was going all out to prevent the virus from spreading. Humming, she wrote down the info. She placed her hand over Arashi's forehead and felt his fever getting worse.

"How much water have you had today?" she asked, glancing up from her notebook.

Arashi rubbed his stubbled chin in thought, "uhh…about five big glasses I think…" he trailed off, as if he forgot what he was saying just seconds ago.

Sakura jotted down the notes before she decided to ask him some more questions regarding the cause of the illness. "So tell me again when you first started feeling the effects of the illness," the medic wanted Arashi to answer it as honestly as he could remember.

"About two weeks ago, shortly before my sister got sick," he answered sadly.

Sakura nodded before a thought dawned on her. She knew it had nothing to do with the village's water supply, or everyone would most likely be dead by now. So maybe it had something to do with the food they ate, "Arashi-kun, did you eat anything out of the ordinary two weeks ago?" she asked, raising her eyes in eagerness. Arashi seemed unsure as he sat there, rubbing his sore arms, "err, it's kinda hard remembering what I ate several weeks ago, but I'll see what I can recall…" there was a long pregnant pause between the two as Arashi allowed his memories to draw him back two weeks ago. He hummed to himself as if it helped him and turned to face Sakura, who was staring at the man's kitchen countertop that had some fruit that were beginning to go rotten.

"My sister and I had steaks and potatoes for dinner about two weeks ago," he said to himself, then his eyes widened as if he remembered something important, "the next day after we went to a bakery we passed by."

Sakura returned her gaze to Arashi and flipped to a clean page to write it down, "go on," she encouraged. Arashi sighed and looked out the window, "the bakery had just opened that day, so Chisu and I went there and bought some very tasty bread rolls. They were some of the tastiest bread rolls I've ever tasted."

"What's the name of the bakery you visited?" Sakura asked, feeling some hope now.

"I can't remember the name. All I saw was the huge opening sign, which drew me inside with Chisu."

Sakura kept writing down the information, although she was disappointed that she didn't know the name of the bakery. She closed her notebook and stared at Arashi, "thank you, Arashi-kun, I better get going and see if this information gives me any clues about the epidemic," she got up, smiling in hope and sympathy for Arashi as she made her way to the door.

"Thank you…Sakura-chan," Arashi called out as she left and lay back down on the couch to get some more shuteye.

* * *

"Gaara-sama, I have news regarding the epidemic," Sakura said once she was granted access into the Kazekage's office.

Gaara glanced up from reading a scroll and rose an eyebrow, "really? What do you have?" he asked as the pink haired medic sat down opposite Gaara, "yeah, I spoke to Arashi-kun again just before I got here, and I asked him about his illness and whether or not he could give me any valuable information, so…" she trailed off, catching the red haired man's interested expression and opened her notebook and flicked through her notes to what she came up with.

"Arashi-kun told me he started getting sick two weeks ago, shortly after his sister Chisu was brought in for treatment. He said he ate some bread rolls from a newly opened bakery, and he said they were some of the nicest he'd ever tasted."

"So…where is this getting us?"

"I think the bread rolls are the things that are making everyone in your village so sick."

Gaara pinched the bridge of his nose before meeting Sakura's gaze, "so you're saying the food at the bakery is the cause of all this?" he wondered, raising an eyebrow at the medic in question.

Sakura nodded, "that's what I'm thinking, but we won't be sure unless we do some sample testing and determine whether my suspicions are true." Gaara nodded in agreement and stood up from his chair and looked out the massive window behind him to look upon his village, "then we will get food samples from every bakery in the village until we find the cause, and I won't rest until my people are safe," he turned to face Sakura with pleading pale eyes.

"I assure you, Gaara-sama, I will do my best to help." And with that Sakura got up to leave.

"Sakura-chan…" Gaara called out before Sakura could leave.

Said medic turned around, "yes?" Gaara put his pen down on his desk and approached her, "we better go to the research lab," he gave a weak smile as he opened the door for the pink haired woman, who smiled in return and left the office. Gaara followed suit and they made their way down to the research lab and arrange sampling of bakeries all over the village. This would be hard work, but they would do it, even if it meant staying up all night.

* * *

The silver haired Jounin was perched high up in an old oak tree by the training fields, reading his favourite novel, Icha Icha Violence, when Gai appeared just below the tree and looked up.

"Kakashi-san, I haven't seen you all week, where've you been hiding all this time?" he asked curiously.

Kakashi simply shrugged, "here and there," he said plainly as he turned a page to his beloved book. In actual fact, Kakashi kept himself locked up in his home or in his secret hiding places to read and keep his mind off Sakura not being here.

Gai let out a few laughs as he raised a thumb up, "the power of youth is burning brightly today, how about a spar to lighten your mood?" he asked gallantly, as if noticing Kakashi's slight depression. The silver haired man lowered his book, considering the offer, "hmm, alright then, you're on," he said with a smirk beneath his mask as he gently put his book away in his weapons pouch and launched himself from his branch and landed not far from the tree, facing Gai, and ready to fight.

"You're in an eager mood today, aren't you?" Gai cocked an eyebrow at his long-time rival.

Kakashi merely shrugged lazily before moving into his fighting stance and charged at the green clad man with the full intention of giving him a good beating; not that Gai minded all that much, it would just be another challenge for the dark haired man.

With a swing of his right leg, Gai easily dodged Kakashi's flurry of kicks and punches and countered with his skilful Taijutsu style moves, matching his opponent. The two sparred it off for what seemed like hours, having destroyed half the forestry in their wake. It ended with Gai being flipped over Kakashi's shoulders and slammed hard on his back, facing the silver haired Jounin.

"That was a good spar…" Gai said between breaths, seemingly pulling off a rather calm appearance, even though his green spandex outfit had a few tiny snags here and there and he pretty much looked like he was dragged through hell and back.

Kakashi looked very much the same; his Jounin vest discarded later on during the battle, and his torso fairly beaten. All in all, they both looked like crap, but it was a satisfying spar, and they were both exhausted.

Casually Kakashi helped his long-time friend up to his feet and collected his standard green vest, "the bar?" Gai suggested after Kakashi made a good attempt to dust himself off the best he could. Kakashi gave the spandexed man a small smirk beneath his mask in agreement.

* * *

"So…you 'nd yer Cherry Blossom g'ing well…I see…" Gai slurred as he downed the last of the third sake bottle.

Kakashi, who was obviously not so much under the influence as his companion, nodded lightly as he sipped away at his shot. He felt a hard elbow against his right side and glanced over at Genma, who gave him a wide grin, "so how many times have you done her?" he asked nonchalantly, his senbon bouncing around in his mouth as he spoke.

Kakashi wasn't surprised when his shaggy haired friend brought up that question; he merely stared at him drolly, "that's none of your concern…" Genma pretended to be hurt, "aw, come on, Kakashi, you know how curious I get when it involves friends in the bedroom, just tell me, I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"It's not that I don't want anyone knowing what she and I do when no one's around, it's just none of your business." There was a long pause as Genma's face fell in disappointed as he took another two shots of rice wine.

The rest of the night went by casually, with Genma trying to ask the occasional question regarding Kakashi's sex life involving a certain pink haired medic. Then out of the blue, Gai brought up the subject Kakashi was hoping to avoid, just to keep him on the positive side, "so how long until Sakura gets back from Suna?" he asked, sobered up more now. Kakashi had to mentally curse and sighed, "She's been out for about six weeks now, so about another month and a half, if not more," he sounded a bit sad, but gave his friends a cheerful eye crease to reassure him, albeit fake.

Gai gave his friend a hard clap on the back, causing Kakashi to nearly choke on his shot of sake, "cheer up Kakashi, in about a month, you'll be reunited with your love once more," he said boldly, and dramatically placed a hand across his forehead, "oh, the power of youth runs thick in your veins," he declared, tears streaming down his face.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, tasting sake in his nostrils from Gai's earlier actions. It burned, but not as badly as having no Sakura around to annoy, or tease, or love. It sucked, really, and Kakashi had to go for another whole month or so before he would see her again. When Kakashi first met Sakura, he thought she was just some immature brat with crap all ninja skills. She was smart mouthed and loud, and she irritated everyone with her infatuation with the Uchiha heir. Kakashi could remember the times well, when Team 7 first walked up trees and learned about chakra control. Sakura was the first and mastered her chakra control very well. Kakashi felt so proud that day. As the team progressed even further, Kakashi teachings began to dim shortly after Sasuke left the village, and when Naruto left with Jiraiya for those few years, Team 7 was officially disbanded. Kakashi hadn't seen much of Sakura during that time, and when the team was reunited as Team Kakashi, things between him and Sakura had changed.

Sakura had grown up a lot. Her skills and abilities alone made him proud, although he wasn't responsible for that. Over the years, when Naruto left the village constantly for long missions with other Shinobi, Kakashi watched Sakura bloom into a woman. He was there when she graduated to Jounin, and couldn't be happier. And when another few years passed, Sakura had developed into a woman most med would die to have in their arms. Kakashi never thought he was the man who would hold her in his arms. It all started out with a pink haired brat that grew up into something completely different, yet she still held most of her personality.

With a long audible sigh, Kakashi laid some money down for his drinks and took off, "see ya," he waved a vague goodbye at his companions and left, still feeling a little tipsy from drinking.

The walk home was long and dreary as Kakashi pondered over the one woman who changed him. Sure some of the one nighters he had made him ponder over relationships, but Sakura opened up a different door and something more than just a relationship; she showed him friendship, happiness, and above all, love. Sakura was something else, and Kakashi loved her for it.

He entered his home silently through his bedroom window out of sheer habit. Being a Shinobi and all, Kakashi found many ways and reasons why he had different entrances to his home, and those were things he preferred to keep to himself. With a long sigh, Kakashi removed his sandals, green vest and baggy long-sleeved shirt and dumped them casually on a chair.

Running a hand through his unruly silver locks, Kakashi sat down heavily on his bed, unable to rid the thoughts of Sakura from his mind. He glanced over at his bedside table where an alarm clock sat, along with two photo frames. He stared longingly at the picture of his team when he was still a kid. Those were some hard times, but Kakashi held it together and managed to fight on. His mismatched eyes trailed along to the photo next to it. Team 7; the most unpredictable team he had ever taught, as well as the only. Kakashi always thought Team 7 was a group that would never even get close to passing his bell test, like everyone else had, and yet, they became the first.

He couldn't hold back the smile that formed as his gaze lingered on his former students, and most especially Sakura. She certainly had grown. Kakashi placed his head on his pillow and breathed a tired sigh as he snuggled under the comfort of his bed and drifted off to a peaceful dream.

* * *

**Author's notes**: okay, it was a short chapter, and I know, it was most likely a filler, but this chapter is just to prep you all up for the last chapter. Unfortunately this is the second to last chapter of this story, so I'll make the most of the very final chapter XD. So what did you think of it? Was it okay? Was it bad? I'd like to know, but that's entirely up to you readers out there reading this at the moment :).

Kakashi: (sniff) second to last chapter??

Yan: (frowns) yeah...(sighs), a bit sad, but it's not the end of the world.

Sakura: Sorry guys, I was busy trying to get here all the way from Suna

Kakashi and Yan: hey Sakura!

Sakura: (smiles) so what did I miss?

Kakashi: a filler...

Sakura: really?

Yan: well, it does tell us a bit about what's going on when you're in Suna tending to the sick and dying.

Sakura: true.

Kakashi: but I think it's still filler-ish

Yan: okay I get the idea!

Kakashi: (laughs jokingly) I'm just teasing.

Sakura: ANY-way...hope you all enjoyed reading the chapter I so happened to miss

Yan: I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can.

Kakashi: and more reviews are great ;)


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's notes**: About _bloody_ time! Yes, I blame myself for the loooong delay, but here it is everyone, the final chapter to this fanfic. I've been working on this fic since god knows when (July '08 I think...), and now here's the finale, the icing on the cake, the climax...or the last climax to come. I sincerely appologise for my being late with this chapter; I recently finished my exams to between the last update and those exams were either studying...or sheer laziness, but I'd mostly go with the latter, lol. Uhm, so yeah, I'm gonna read through this thing, fix the bits, and make it all pretty for to read ^_^.

Kakashi: (shaking weakly with a long grey beard)

Yan: Oh come on, I didn't take that long, did I?!

Kakashi: (laughs) Haha, just kidding (takes off fake beard with a smile)

Yan: Ass...

Sakura: I think I have cucumber boobies now...(smiles)

Yan: You too?!?!?!

(Kakashi and Sakura laugh)

Yan: (hides in corner with sad face) You guys are evil...T_T

Kakashi: (chuckles) Oh come on Yan, we're just teasing

Yan: I know, but you two make me feel so lazy

Kakashi: But you are lazy :P

Yan: Grrr

Sakura: Okay you two, enough complaining, our readers are waiting for this to move along.

Kakashi and Yan: Right

Kakashi: Well, since we're no longer old and grey-

Sakura: Kakashi not counted-

Kakashi: Hey!

Yan: Ahem! We're proud to present to you the last chapter.

Kakashi: So sit back, relax and enjoy ^_^

* * *

  
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: SPRING RAIN

It was a long and tiring mission, but Sakura managed to pull it off, with the help of the Suna medical staff and Gaara. Without them, their village would crumble into an unstoppable disease. Her assumptions were correct when Arashi told her about the bread and the new bakery. It took her three days to find out which bakery it was, but she found it eventually, and with the help of the medical nins in Suna, they extracted the poisons and made a cure within four weeks.

One life was lost during that process; it was a sad event, but those four weeks had been worth it. A group of medics and herself tended to every citizen in Suna so that if the problem occurred again, they would stand a better chance against the poisons. Gaara was, or course, eternally grateful of her services and sent good word out to Konoha to tell them of her soon return.

As Sakura was walking through the heat of the day, with the sun searing down on her, she caught sight of familiar ground and inhaled the sweet late spring air as a breeze brushed through her hair. She could see a few clouds roll across the blue sky and smiled, glad to be heading home. It had been a total four months, almost five, and Sakura was so glad she would be stepping past the gates of Konoha and be welcomed home by her friends. Not only that, but Sakura would see Kakashi again. She was a bit anxious at the thought of seeing Kakashi again, and smiled at a few possibilities and scenarios when she does see him.

There it was, Konoha's western gates; only about two hundred metres off. Without another thought, Sakura jogged down the dirt road. Funny, Sakura was exhausted from her trip home and she was pretty sore from her travels, yet she still found the strength to run home.

Closer and closer Sakura got and the smile never left her features. And once she was there, leaping over the threshold of the gates, she let out a shout of glee. Kotetsu and Izumo looked up from their game of cards with raised eyebrows, until they realised whom that person was.

"Sakura-san! You're back," Kotetsu called out with a grin.

Sakura turned to face the two Chuunin and smiled in return and waved, "Hey guys, you have no idea how happy I am to be home." She sighed tiredly and looked up at the sky. The clouds were really coming in, and she had a feeling it would rain today.

"So how did the mission go?" Kotetsu asked, grabbing a sheet of paper and scribbling something down.

Sakura smiled, "longer than anticipated, but it went really well." She smiled sweetly at them.

She heard the two Chuunin laugh as she skipped down the main street of the village and out of sight. Sakura felt her body grow a little weaker at each step as she got closer to her house, but she was determined to get there. She needed a shower and a bit of rest, that was until she thought of Kakashi, again. She sighed at the thought of being in his arms once more and smiled, remembering how good he felt just being with.

All too soon, Sakura made it home and entered the building. The house was quiet, a bit dark and smelled musty from her absence, but that would change in a couple days when she gave it a good spring-cleaning. Setting her seemingly heavy bag down on her couch, Sakura breathed in the all too familiar scent of her home. She waded into her bedroom, smiling still, and grabbed some clean clothes and went for the shower.

* * *

Kakashi sighed again for the nth time that hour, having nothing to do but bounce a ball across his living room and make Pakkun retrieve it. The pug didn't mind at all, actually; he was glad that he was getting this much attention. He was a bit suspicious at first that Kakashi was showering him with so much attention, but after a belly rub and a bowl of jelly meat, he forgot all about it.

"So what has you down, Kakashi-san?" Pakkun asked after bringing the tennis ball back to his master.

"Nothing," Kakashi said simply, shrugging his shoulders as he did so.

Pakkun dropped the ball and jumped up onto the couch next to Kakashi and pouted, "Come on, Kakashi-san, something is definitely up; I can smell it." He gave Kakashi the biggest set of puppy eyes he could muster. The silver haired man's features softened just a little, "Sakura-chan's been gone for almost five months now," he just couldn't help it.

Pakkun gave the Copy Nin a sympathetic whine and gave him a soft nudge, "You miss her, I get it, but that doesn't mean you have to be so depressed about it. In fact, this is the first time in ages since I've seen you like this, and you're beginning to scare me."

"I'm sorry Pakkun," Kakashi said solemnly.

Pakkun smirked, giving Kakashi a hooded stare, "Go read Icha Icha or something. Distract yourself, I don't know; just don't look so down." Kakashi glanced down at the pug dog, "I suppose I can." With those reassuring words, Pakkun raised a paw goodbye and vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"Right," Kakashi muttered under his breath as he got up to walk to his bookshelf where his entire collection of the Icha Icha series sat. Grabbing his favourite, Icha Icha Tactics, Kakashi sat down on the couch with a sigh and opened the dark green cover and began to read.

About an hour flew by and Kakashi temporarily lost himself to the plot of the novel and blinked a few times after chapter four. He set the book down on the coffee table and looked up at the clock; it was early in the afternoon, and Kakashi was expected in Tsunade's office about now…or was it an hour ago? Kakashi stretched out his arms and got up to get a glass of water. It was raining. Strange, it was sunny not too long ago, but then again, it was spring, so unexpected showers shouldn't be a surprise to him.

Grabbing a biscuit from the jar in his small pantry, Kakashi left his home and casually made his way to the Hokage tower, where Tsunade would no doubt be annoyed with him for being late. She should be used to it by now, though. He shrugged to himself as he munched down on his chocolate chip cookie in a lightning fast move and jogged down the main street and to the tower.

* * *

Sakura stretched languidly on the couch, having enjoyed her long nap and feeling a bit better now that she had a decent sleep. She stood up, popping a joint or two as she reached up to the ceiling and walked into her room to start unpacking her bag.

After taking her long hot shower, Sakura felt the need to rest her head for a while; only hoping to sleep for about ten minutes or so. Sakura looked at the clock on her desk and sighed. She'd been sleeping for just over an hour, and Sakura had plans this afternoon.

Pulling out her clothes, toiletries and other items she had taken along with her and set them aside to deal with her dirty laundry. She carried her clothes to the washing machine and dryer and set them down on the hamper. Opening her dryer she found some clothes she had forgotten to remove, so her mind set, Sakura began folding the dark clothing. After several pairs of shorts and tank tops, Sakura pulled something out that was much too big for her. She tugged a little harder on the navy blue sleeve and raised a pink brow before remembering whose it was.

Sakura had still forgotten to return Kakashi's shirt, and the thought was starting to bug her now. She really wanted to see him. So Sakura neatly folded the shirt with the rest of the clothes from the dryer and started a load in the washing machine. After putting the rest of the laundry in the hamper for later, Sakura carried the clean clothes to her room and removed the Jounin shirt from the pile.

Glancing out the window of her bedroom, Sakura noticed it was raining, but not so heavy. After all, it was spring now and light showers were expected. Sakura grabbed the shirt and a raincoat, and walked out of her house to pay a good friend an unexpected surprise visit.

* * *

"So, are you sure you're feeling alright?" The hazel-eyed woman asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kakashi nodded quickly, "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, scratching the bridge of his nose.

Tsunade didn't seem very convinced, but then she didn't have to. She smiled for a moment as she handed Kakashi a piece of paper. The silver haired man sceptically read through the text of the sheet and gaped; his lone visible eye as wide as a diner plate, "You're not serious." He blurted before he could stop himself.

"I'm dead serious," Tsunade couldn't suppress the smirk when she caught the dumbfounded look on Kakashi's masked face.

"When did she get back?" Kakashi just had to know.

"About an hour and a half ago."

"And why didn't anyone tell me?"

Tsunade sighed and closed her eyes, "Because we figured she'd go straight to you," she interlaced her fingers under her chin and gave the man a once over, "So if you're done gaping at me like a fish, you can go see her now; she's most likely at her place, cleaning and whatnot."

Kakashi lightened up at that. He'd give her a surprise. Grinning at the thought of seeing his woman again, Kakashi bowed his respects to the Hokage and left the office. He leapt down the stairs, missing several at every step until he almost slammed into the main entrance of the building from the speed at which he was descending.

It was raining heavier than before, but it was no worry to Kakashi at all. He took a quick whiff of himself. He smelled a bit sweaty, but he didn't really mind; he wasn't going anywhere fancy, so showering now wouldn't really be necessary. Shrugging his shoulders, Kakashi sped off down the road.

"Kakashi-san!" Tenzou hollered before Kakashi left him in the dust.

The silver haired man stopped in his tracks and faced the Mokuton user, "Tenzou-san, what's up?" he wondered, acting as if he wasn't doing anything at all.

"You looked like you were in a hurry; so what's got you running like hell?" Tenzou asked, crossing his arms over his chest and cocking a brown eyebrow.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, "Well, I just remembered that I left the stove on in my house, so I need to get home quickly before I burn my own house down."

Tenzou nodded in understanding, "I hear ya. Better get going then," he gave his silver haired friend a smirk. Kakashi gave a quick wave before heading down the main street and turning left to a smaller street.

The brown haired ANBU scratched the back of his head and cocked his head sideways, "Hang on, isn't Kakashi's house the other way? Does he even _have_ a stove?" he asked himself with a confused frown on his features and staring out in the direction Kakashi took off in.

* * *

A lie was probably not really needed when talking to Tenzou, but now wasn't quite the time to tell his close friend he was going to see his former student. Of course Tenzou didn't know about their relationship, so he couldn't exactly say he was going to 'spend some time alone' with her, and even if the Wood user knew of their night time activities, Kakashi wasn't the type to kiss and tell, nor say he was going to make love to her in about an hour.

The rain was weighing down on him now; his hair soaking and sticking to the visible portion of his face. This wasn't a bother to him at all. Kakashi had been through much, much worse situations. Like the time he had to go to Yukigakure about information regarding the Akatsuki. Apparently, they were coming back with a new plan of action to take over the Ninja World, so Kakashi was sent there to investigate. He got caught up in a blizzard in mid autumn and was stuck there for three days on his own with nothing but the clothes on his back and his intellect.

Her house was just up ahead, and Kakashi could already hear her melodic voice calling out his name in joy of seeing him again. He smiled. After four months they would be together again, and hopefully stay together for as long as he could imagine.

He hopped up the steps to her balcony and paused to catch his breath. Kakashi knocked on the door, expecting to hear her moving around inside or talking to herself. He let out his inhalation, realising he was holding his breath for that whole moment. Frowning lightly, Kakashi jumped down and stalked around to her bedroom window. No Sakura. Kakashi then checked the kitchen window, where he could see right down the hallway through this point of view. Again, there was no Sakura to be seen or heard.

Kakashi sighed, feeling at a loss that Sakura was nowhere to be found. '_Maybe she's at my house…_' he pondered inwardly and jogged down the road and decided travelling the rooftops would be much easier, so he leapt up to a nearby building and headed straight for his house.

The rain pelted against him, nearly blinding him as he jumped, but he continued to go straight, knowing every inch of this neighbourhood like the back of his hand. He could see the roof of his cosy abode and felt a small smile twitch upward beneath his mask.

Now he was jumping the rooftops and buildings by his street, and there he saw her. Sakura was running to his house, he assumed, but just as he wanted to dive down and catch her off guard with a hug, she tripped.

* * *

Sakura was eager to get to his place, and she was also very eager for some romantic cuddles and lovemaking. He had long pocketed the shirt into one of the deep pockets of her bright green rain jacket to make it easier for her small travel.

She had quickly popped in to see Ino at the Yamanaka Flower shop and told her about her trip, and she finally told her about her and Kakashi being together. Ino was a bit aghast, but then she got over it, saying she was happy for them and wished them well.

When she left the building, saying she was going to see Kakashi and just 'catch up' with him, the rain began to kick in, so Sakura picked up the pace and made a run for it to Kakashi's home.

Sakura could see Kakashi's house up ahead and smiled, getting a tingly sensation in her stomach about seeing the tardy Jounin again after four or so months, but just as she could mentally elaborate what she would like to do with Kakashi, she lost her footing and found herself launching forward and watching the ground draw closer very quickly. But before she hit the ground however, she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist and shoulders and was hoisted over what seemed like someone's shoulder.

The medic was slightly dazed as to what had just happened, but she glanced down at the firm surface and saw a green vest clad shoulder, linking to the standard navy shirt and gasped when she looked the other way and saw a mop of silver hair.

"Kakashi?" she gaped, looking a lot like a deer caught in the headlights.

Kakashi said nothing, but then again, he didn't have to. He stopped just in front of his house and set Sakura on her feet. Sakura only just got her balance back when Kakashi tugged his mask down and crushed his lips to hers.

Sakura's eyes fluttered shut as she felt Kakashi's arms wrap around her waist and pull her close, so close she was amazed she was still intact with the desperate force he was using. Her tongue danced with his in a passion filled kiss that sent tingles all over her body and set her soul ablaze with need.

The pulled apart for air and Kakashi just stared into Sakura's emerald green eyes and just smiled. Sakura didn't have the patience to just stare and enjoy; instead she showered him with kisses all over his exposed face and practically strangled him with a tight hug.

"I've missed you so much," Sakura breathed, kissing his cheek.

She felt Kakashi's arms return the embrace warmly and lifted her off the ground, "You have no idea how much I agree with you on that," he said simply with a sly smirk on his bare face. He walked the two into his house and set Sakura on her feet to lock the door. He picked her up in a tender embrace, nuzzling her neck with his face and sighed at the feeling of his woman in his arms again.

"So how was the mission?" Kakashi asked, sitting them down on the couch, and pulling away to give Sakura some room.

Sakura smiled, unable to get the joyful feeling in the pit of her stomach to die down, "It went well, but I'd rather not elaborate on that just yet," she gave Kakashi a devious grin that made Kakashi's groin jerk slightly.

Just before Kakashi planned on taking this opportunity to ravage her until they were both sated, Sakura fumbled around in the pocket of her jacket shortly after removing it. There she pulled out a navy blue shirt, much like the ones Kakashi always wore, "I came to give you this. I found it in my washing when I got home, and I must've forgotten to return it to you."

Kakashi stood up, taking Sakura's hand in his own to help her up and stared almost dumbly at his shirt she held for him, "So you did, you cheeky little thief," he said jokily and grabbed the navy material off her and with his other hand, raised it to her face and traced her cheek and jaw line with the pads of his fingers, "Guess I'll have to teach you not to steal from me. You've stolen something very precious from me already."

Sakura frowned at the last statement, "Really? What is it?" she sounded innocent, and she obviously didn't get a clue as to what Kakashi was on about.

Kakashi gave her a wicked smile, "My heart," he was being dead serious. His thumb ran over her bottom lip as his lone onyx eye bore into her green ones. Sakura felt her heart melt at his words and felt this was the moment to say it.

She kissed him deeply and pulled away briefly, "I love you, Kakashi," and kissed him again and again. Kakashi sensually brushed his tongue against hers and started walking her towards the bedroom, "I love you too," he mumbled between kisses.

"I wanted…to tell you…this before…you left, but…I completely…forgot…" he pulled away after a battle of kisses assaulted him.

"I know, I did too," Sakura said, her breathing laboured and pulled him down for another kiss, but this time more gentle, and Kakashi could feel every emotion from her.

He picked her up, instantly wrapping her legs around his waist and setting her down on the bed. Kakashi kissed her sweetly before trailing wet kisses down her neck, while his hands masterfully unzipped the damp red vest top she was wearing and tossed it on the floor, forgotten.

Once he had Sakura's bra removed, Kakashi sat back, staring at his lover's exposed torso and couldn't contain the grin spreading over his bare face. He leaned back down to capture her lips with his in another searing kiss. Sakura moaned softly against his lips at the feel of his hardness pressing against her thigh.

Kakashi pulled back to quickly discard his vest, long sleeve shirt and undershirt before resuming kissing Sakura senseless. He felt Sakura drag her fingers along his back while he smothered her with his love, and groaned as he rained kisses upon her neck, her collarbone, and then her left breast. Sakura moaned again and arched her back to him invitingly, revelling in the softness of his hot mouth on her skin. Kakashi's licked and suckled gently while cupping the other neglected breast in his hand.

Sakura's hands found his hair, tugging and pulling at the silver locks. She felt that familiar build of heat between her thighs and sighed happily, closing her eyes as she did so.

Kakashi moved back up Sakura's neck and to her chin, nibbling playfully and giving her light kisses upon her lips. Just as the older Jounin planned to move back down and torture her some more, he felt Sakura's chakra on his skin and was instantly flipped over. He stared at the medic, mildly surprised, and yet very much turned on.

"Now it's my turn," Sakura said teasingly as her hands travelled up Kakashi's torso and to his neck.

She leaned forward to plant her lips on Kakashi's. The silver haired man parted his lips invitingly to Sakura's touch, his hands gliding up her bare back and back down, over her backside and gave it a firm squeeze.

Sakura instinctively grabbed the offending hands on her rump and pulled them away, as if to keep him from having his fun. She smiled against their kiss before trailing her lips down his neck, over his chest and down his chiselled abs. Kakashi sucked in his breath in anticipation as he watched Sakura move lower and lower still. Sakura bit her bottom lip when she reached the waistband of his pants, but she felt bold enough to slowly pull them down, watching Kakashi's expression as she did so. She was going agonisingly slow and she could tell Kakashi was almost squirming in protest.

The pants were discarded promptly along with his boxers and Sakura couldn't help but stare at him, taking the sight of Kakashi lying there on his back and fully aroused. She gave Kakashi a hot stare before she lowered her head to his abdomen once again, running her tongue slowly while her hands gently wrapped around his length. She heard the low groan above her and she grinned; this was going to be fun.

* * *

The two collapsed in each other's arms, and neither wanted to move. Sakura lay sprawled over Kakashi, and both were covered in sweat and catching their breath. The medic could all but smile when she found Kakashi's weakness while she was merely toying with him. Hearing him whimper for her to stop was just music to her ears.

"So…" Kakashi finally broke the silence after some time.

"First one that's able to walk gets the shower first."

Kakashi laughed at that, and he tenderly kissed Sakura as she lay above him. His limbs felt heavy and his head was still swimming from the wonderful feeling of having Sakura in his arms, and the scent of her body on his.

There was another moment of silence before Sakura spoke again, "Do you think Naruto minds us being together?" she lifted herself up and propped herself onto an elbow. Kakashi hummed in thought, "Considering the fact that we've been together for roughly five months, I think he'd have to get over it some time soon."

Sakura stared at him, "You didn't tell him?" she asked, suddenly finding the strength to roll to one side to let Kakashi sit up.

Kakashi pouted guiltily, "It never really crossed my mind," he said sheepishly. Sakura scoffed and let her forehead fall against his shoulder, "What are we going to tell him?" she sighed heavily, closing her eyes to think deeply. Kakashi chuckled as he snaked his arms around her slender waist to pull her across him so that she was straddling him now, "We tell him everything he needs to know, or at least before he gets mad and tries to break my neck."

Sakura laughed this time and gave her lover a soft kiss, "I suppose so, Naruto is still as stubborn as ever, and I doubt he'll take the news well," she ran her hands through Kakashi's silver hair, eliciting a soft hum from the Copy Nin. Kakashi opened his eyes to look at Sakura and said, "He's a lot smarter than he used to be, so I have a feeling he'll understand, but not before wanting to rip me apart."

"Why would he do that?"

"He'll probably think I'm stealing you away from him, that I'm some sort of cradle-snatching paedophile, so he'll want to make sure I can protect you and keep you safe."

Sakura stopped playing with his hair to look at him closely, "A cradle-snatching paedophile?" she wondered with a risen eyebrow. Kakashi shrugged, "Well maybe not a cradle-snatching paedophile, but most likely the rest."

"So Naruto would try and destroy you because he wants to protect me?"

Kakashi nodded.

Sakura rolled off his lap and stood, stretching her somewhat sore body, "Alright then, I get the shower now, I'll be out in a bit," she said as she began to cross the room to the hallway and bathroom door. Kakashi quickly got to his feet before she could make it past the basin, "If we shower together, we'll take up much less time and water," he said with a devilish smirk, and turned the shower on.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, "I highly doubt that," but she smiled nonetheless.

* * *

_**The End**_

* * *

**Author's notes**: Haha-haha-ha! And you thought there was going to be another juicy smut scene described from all directions...but no. I have my reasons for this, and one of them is because I didn't want to make this chapter too long. I'm leaving the love-making scene up to you to imagine (cheeky grin). And, I'm ending it here because I want you to decide how Naruto will react to this...not to mention Ino, Tenzou and kami knows who else. I mean, Tsunade knows...so all goods. This is sadly the end of this fanfic, and I truly hope this had some inspiration to all those writers out there. So, this is a short goodbye, but I'm still working on _many_ many other fanfics for you to read, so keep an eye out. Ciao ciao for now ;)

Yan: (tears in her eyes) I can't believe it's over already T_T

Kakashi: (puts arm over Yan's shoulders) Don't worry, like you said, there are plenty other fanfics you're working on.

Sakura: And I bet there are at least three involving Kakashi and myself doing the tango under the sheets that you're still working on.

Kakashi: And don't forget the amount of fanfics involving me in general.

Yan: I guess so (sniff), but this fanfic was one of my favourites.

Kakashi: You've got plenty more in that big imagination of yours (prods Yan's head)

Yan: (slaps hand away) Alright then (fire burns in her eyes) I've got a bejillion ideas, and a million stories in progress.

Sakura: That's the spirit.

Kakashi: Bejillion?

Yan: Yeah, new word I just made up on the spot.

Kakashi: ...Oh-kay...

Sakura: Think of it, we've had a lot of attention from this story...although some chapters better than others, but still.

Kakashi: She's right, Yan, you are improving a lot.

Yan: Yay ^_^. The more I write, the more I learn.

Sakura: ...Isn't that when you _read_ more?

Yan: I don't know, I'm only recently getting back into reading novels.

Kakashi: Ahem...can we finish this up?

Yan: Right...well, I - I mean - we hope you enjoyed reading Under The Rain.

Sakura: Be sure to leave behind you're much appreciated comments and reviews.

Kakashi: Yes, Yan loves to know what you think.

Yan: Until next time, see ya ;D

Sakura and Kakashi: ^_^


End file.
